Dospat–Vacha Hydropower Cascade
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The Dospat–Vacha Hydroelectric Cascade () is situated in the western
Rhodope Mountains The Rhodopes (; , ; , ''Rodopi''; ) are a mountain range in Southeastern Europe, and the largest by area in Bulgaria, with over 83% of its area in the southern part of the country and the remainder in Greece. Golyam Perelik is its highest peak ...
of southern
Bulgaria Bulgaria, officially the Republic of Bulgaria, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern portion of the Balkans directly south of the Danube river and west of the Black Sea. Bulgaria is bordered by Greece and Turkey t ...
, on the territory of the
Smolyan Smolyan () is a List of cities and towns in Bulgaria, town and ski resort in the south of Bulgaria near the border with Greece. It is the administrative and industrial centre of the Smolyan Province. The town is built along the narrow valley of t ...
,
Pazardzhik Pazardzhik ( ) is a city situated along the banks of the Maritsa river, southern Bulgaria. It is the centre of Pazardzhik Province and Pazardzhik Municipality. It is located in the Upper Thracian Plain and in the Pazardzhik-Plovdiv Field, a ...
and
Plovdiv Province Plovdiv Province (: ''Oblast Plovdiv'', former name okrug, Plovdiv okrug) is a provinces of Bulgaria, province in central southern Bulgaria. It comprises 18 municipalities (общини, ''obshtini'', sing. общинa, ''obshtina'') on a territ ...
s. It is owned by the National Electricity Company. The cascade was constructed between 1963 and 2010 by "Hydrostroy". With catchment area of 2,083 km2 spanning from an altitude of 2,191 m at the summit of
Golyam Perelik Golyam Perelik ( ) is the highest peak in the Rhodope Mountains, situated 19 km to the west of Smolyan. It makes the Rhodopes the seventh highest Bulgarian mountain range after Rila, Pirin, Stara Planina, Vitosha, Osogovo and Slavyanka. Th ...
to 420 m at the Krichim Reservoir, it is among Bulgaria's most complex hydropower systems. The cascade receives water from several river drainages, mostly from the
Mesta The ''Mesta'' () was a powerful association protecting livestock owners and their animals in the Crown of Castile that was incorporated in the 13th century and was dissolved in 1836. Although best known for its organisation of the annual migrat ...
, the
Dospat Dospat () is a town in the very south of Bulgaria, part of Smolyan Province, situated in the Rhodope Mountains, close to Dospat Dam. It is the administrative centre of the homonymous Dospat Municipality. As of December 2010, the town had a popul ...
and the Vacha. It includes five reservoirs and seven hydro power plants — Teshel, Devin, Tsankov Kamak, Orphey,
Krichim Krichim ( ) is a town in Bulgaria, located in the southwestern part of Plovdiv Province close to Perushtitsa. It lies at the foot of the Rhodopes' northern slopes in the plains of Thrace, 20 km southwest of Plovdiv. The river Vacha, an imp ...
and Vacha 1 and 2, with a combined installed capacity of 500.2 MW, producing an average of 871 GWh annually.


Structure


Dospat–Teshel junction

The ''Dospat–Teshel junction'' includes the
Dospat Reservoir Dospat Reservoir () is situated in the western part of the Rhodope Mountains, Bulgaria. The reservoir (formed by a dam in the town of Dospat, west of Smolyan) stretches nearly northwest to the city of Sarnitsa. At above the sea level, it is o ...
, the Teshel Hydro Power Plant and a system of derivations. The dam of the reservoir was constructed on the river
Dospat Dospat () is a town in the very south of Bulgaria, part of Smolyan Province, situated in the Rhodope Mountains, close to Dospat Dam. It is the administrative centre of the homonymous Dospat Municipality. As of December 2010, the town had a popul ...
in 1963–1969 on the territory of the towns of
Dospat Dospat () is a town in the very south of Bulgaria, part of Smolyan Province, situated in the Rhodope Mountains, close to Dospat Dam. It is the administrative centre of the homonymous Dospat Municipality. As of December 2010, the town had a popul ...
and Sarnitsa. With a territory of 22.1 km2 and a total volume of 449 million m3, it is one of the largest in Bulgaria and serves as a multiannual leveler of the whole cascade. It has a stone dam with a clay core, reaching a height of 60.5 m and a length of 230 m, located at an altitude of 1,200.5 m. Apart from the homonymous river, the Dospat Reservoir gathers water from three derivations — ''Vishteritsa–Kanina'', which gathers water from several right tributaries of the Mesta, including the
Vishteritsa The Vishteritsa () is a 24 km-long river in southern Bulgaria, a right tributary of the Kanina, itself a left tributary of the river Mesta of the Aegean Sea drainage. The river takes its source at an altitude of 1,586 m at 1.7 km ...
and the Kanina at an altitude of 1,240 m; it has a length of 18 km and flows into Dospat upstream of the reservoir; the catchment area is 146 m2 and the maximum water discharge is 12.22 m3/s; ''Bistritsa'', which gathers water from the rivers
Chechka Bistritsa The Chechka Bistritsa () is a 49 km-long river in southern Bulgaria, a left tributary of the river Mesta of the Aegean Sea basin. It flows through the historical region of Chech. Geography The river takes its source under the name Pardik ...
and Velichka at an altitude of 1,205 m; it has a length of 9.8 km; the catchment area is 46 m2 and the maximum water discharge is 3.12 m3/s; and finally ''Osina'', which gathers water from the river Osina at an altitude of 1,210 m; it has a length of 12.2 km; the catchment area is 49 m2 and the maximum water discharge is 1.6 m3/s. The main pressure derivation of the Teshel HPP begins from a water tower behind the left side of the Dospat dam and continues with a 732 m overground pipeline, a 16 km pressure tunnel, a 110 m high underground water tower with an engine room chamber and ends with a 522 m long underground pipeline to power station. En route, it receives water from the derivations of ''Karadzha dere'' (catchment area of 39 m2; water discharge of 7.75 m3/s) and ''Beldonovo dere'' (catchment area of 26 m2; water discharge of 1.5 m3/s). Teshel HPP itself is located on the territory of the village of Borino. It has two
Francis turbines The Francis turbine is a type of water turbine. It is an inward-flow reaction turbine that combines radial and axial flow concepts. Francis turbines are the most common water turbine in use today, and can achieve over 95% efficiency. The proce ...
with a total installed capacity of 60 MW and was put into operation in 1972. Its utilized water from flows directly into its lower equalizer, which forms part of the second level of the cascade.


Teshel junction

The main facilities of the ''Teshel junction'' are the Teshel Reservoir, the Devin Hydro Power Plant. The reservoir is located on the territory of the village of Borino and Yagodina upstream of the village of Teshel. It was inaugurated in 1984 and serves as a daily equalizer. Apart from the waters of the Teshel HPP, it receives inflow from Vacha’s main stem the Buynovska reka via a derivation with a capacity of 6 m3/s. The dam is 30 m high and 200 m long and forms a lake with an area of 0.1 km2 and a volume of 1.4 million m3. The water of the reservoir is directed to the main pressure derivation of the Devin HPP, which also receives inflow from the rivers Trigradska reka (3.7 m3/s) and Muglenska reka (3.3 m3/s) through a 970 m tunnel. The derivation itself includes a 27.4 m high water tower in the dam, a 145 m tunnel, a 335 m open pressure pipeline, an 8.5 km pressure tunnel, a 51 m high open top underground water tower and a 356 m underground pressure pipeline leading the power plant. The power plant is located close to the town of Devin. It is an above-ground derivation powerplant, with two
Francis turbines The Francis turbine is a type of water turbine. It is an inward-flow reaction turbine that combines radial and axial flow concepts. Francis turbines are the most common water turbine in use today, and can achieve over 95% efficiency. The proce ...
with a total installed capacity of 80 MW initially, later increased to 88 MW. It was inaugurated in 1984.


Tsankov Kamak junction

The water from the Devin TPP flows through the Vacha riverbed until the Tsankov Kamak Reservoir, where the Vacha receives its left tributaries the Devinska reka and the Gashnya. Constructed in 2010, Tsankov Kamak has a double curvature
arch dam An arch dam is a concrete dam that is curved upstream in plan. The arch dam is designed so that the force of the water against it, known as hydrostatic pressure, presses against the arch, causing the arch to straighten slightly and strengtheni ...
, the first on Bulgaria of this type, reaching a height of 130.5 m and a length of 486 m. It forms a lake with an area of 3.3 km2 and a volume of 110.9 million m3. The homonymous HPP is powered by a water quantity of 69.5 m3/s. It has two Francis turbines with a total installed capacity of 86.4 MW and a projected annual production of 198 GWh. It is fed with waters from the reservoir from an open intake in its arm in the former bed of the Gashnya river, from where they are directed through a 600 m underground pressure steel pipeline. During the construction of the plant, a correction was made to the bed of the Vacha river below it, which further increased the water fall by 10 meters.


Vacha junction

The water from the Tsankov Kamak HPP flows through the river bed the
Vacha Reservoir Vacha Reservoir ( Yazovir Vacha; before 1999: Antonivanovtsi Reservoir) is a body of water associated with a dam in Devin Municipality, south Bulgaria. It is part of the Dospat–Vacha Hydropower Cascade (500.2 MW) involving four more dams a ...
, which is an annual leveler. It spans a territory of 5 km2 and contains 226.2 million m3 of water. Its dam is the highest in Bulgaria, reaching 144.5 m, and is a concrete gravity structure. Its length is 420 m. Within the dam wall is constructed the Orphey Pumped Storage Hydro Power Plant, equipped with four Francis turbines with a combined installed capacity of 160 MW. The average water fall is 112 m and the maximum water discharge is 168 m3/s. The water processed by the Orphey HPP enters the bed of the Vacha river, which in an 840 m section of length has been corrected with a reverse slope, so that the pumping unit of the power plant may use water returned from the Krichim Reservoir downstream.


Krichim junction

The Krichim junction is the lowest and final part of the cascade and consists of the Krichim Reservoir and three hydro power plants. The reservoir receives water from the dams upstream, as well as from the derivation of Churenska reka from the neighbouring Parvenetska reka drainage. Its dam was constructed in 1963–1972 in concrete and has a height of 104.5 m and a length of 270 m. It forms a lake with an area of 0.8 km2 and a volume of 20.3 million m3 that winds for 4 km along the narrow canyon-like valley of the Vacha river. Its waters are diverted via two separate routes — one to the Krichim Hydro Power Plant and another to the Vacha 1 and 2 Hydro Power Plants. The main output flows through the former and are later discharged to an irrigation system in the
Upper Thracian Plain The Upper Thracian Plain (, ''Gornotrakiyska nizina'') constitutes the northern part of the historical region of Thrace. It is located in southern Bulgaria, between Sredna Gora mountains to the north and west, a secondary mountain chain parallel ...
that also uses water from the
Batak Hydropower Cascade The Batak Hydroelectric Cascade (, translit. ''Batashki Vodnosilov Pat'') is situated in the Pazardzhik Province, southern Bulgaria and is among the first hydroelectric cascades in the country. Inaugurated on 6 September 1959, it includes seven re ...
to the west. The water from the second route was also intended to be utilized for irrigation but the required irrigation system was never built and is currently viable only during high water. The Krichim HPP was commissioned in 1973 and is linked to the reservoir through a derivation which begins from a water tower, passes through a 3.8 km pressure tunnel with a 4.4 m diameter to an open underground water tower with a height of 50 m, and from there it is fed to the engine room of the power plant via a pressure pipeline. It has two Francis turbines with a total installed capacity of 80 MW. The average water fall is 162 m and the maximum water discharge capacity is 60 m3/s. The Vacha 2 HPP was put into operation in 1972 to utilize the fall between the then-newly built Krichim Reservoir upstream and the old equalizer reservoir of the Vacha 1 HPP downstream. It is located between the two reservoirs, in the territory of the village of Zhrebichko. There are two Francis turbines with a combined installed power capacity of 7 MW, an average fall of 82 m and a capacity of 9.2 m3/s. The water supply from the Krichim Reservoir is via an underground pressure pipeline with a length of 420 m. The Vacha 1 HPP and its upper equalizer reservoir are the oldest part of the cascade, constructed during the
Interwar period In the history of the 20th century, the interwar period, also known as the interbellum (), lasted from 11 November 1918 to 1 September 1939 (20 years, 9 months, 21 days) – from the end of World War I (WWI) to the beginning of World War II ( ...
by the Vacha Water Union. It was commission in 1933 with two turbine units, with another two added in 1949. It is powered by water from the Vacha 2 HPP supplied via a derivation, which begins from the equalizer and flows through a 4.8 km pressure tunnel and a 196 m long above-ground steel pressure pipeline. The Vacha 1 HPP has four Francis turbines with a total installed capacity of 15.4 MW, an average fall of 83 m and a capacity of 20 m3/s.


See also

*
Energy in Bulgaria Energy in Bulgaria is among the most important sectors of the national economy and encompasses energy and electricity production, consumption and transportation in Bulgaria. The national energy policy is implemented by the National Assembly an ...
* Hydroelectricity in Bulgaria *
Batak Hydropower Cascade The Batak Hydroelectric Cascade (, translit. ''Batashki Vodnosilov Pat'') is situated in the Pazardzhik Province, southern Bulgaria and is among the first hydroelectric cascades in the country. Inaugurated on 6 September 1959, it includes seven re ...
*
Geography of Bulgaria Bulgaria is a country situated in Southeast Europe that occupies the eastern quarter of the Balkan peninsula, being the largest country within its geographic boundaries. It borders Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedonia to the west, G ...
*
Rhodope Mountains The Rhodopes (; , ; , ''Rodopi''; ) are a mountain range in Southeastern Europe, and the largest by area in Bulgaria, with over 83% of its area in the southern part of the country and the remainder in Greece. Golyam Perelik is its highest peak ...


Citations


References

* * * {{coord missing, Bulgaria Dams in Bulgaria Hydroelectric power stations in Bulgaria