The Zhiguli Hydroelectric Station or Zhigulyovskaya Hydroelectric Station (), formerly known as Kuybyshev Hydroelectric Station (Kuybyshev GES) is a large

dam A dam is a barrier that stops or restricts the flow of surface water or underground streams. Reservoirs created by dams not only suppress floods but also provide water for activities such as irrigation, human consumption, industrial use, aqua ...

and

hydroelectric station Hydroelectricity, or hydroelectric power, is electricity generated from hydropower (water power). Hydropower supplies 15% of the world's electricity, almost 4,210 TWh in 2023, which is more than all other renewable sources combined and also m ...

on the

Volga River The Volga (, ) is the longest river in Europe and the longest endorheic basin river in the world. Situated in Russia, it flows through Central Russia to Southern Russia and into the Caspian Sea. The Volga has a length of , and a catchment ...

, located near

Zhigulyovsk Zhigulevsk ( rus, Жигулёвск, p=ʐɨɡʊˈlʲɵfsk) is a town in Samara Oblast, Russia, located on the right bank of the Volga River in the Samara Bend near the Zhiguli Mountains, west of Samara. The population was Etymology The name Zh ...

and

Tolyatti Tolyatti or Togliatti ( , ; , ), known before 1964 as Stavropol, is a types of inhabited localities in Russia, city in Samara Oblast, Russia. It is the largest city in Russia which is neither the administrative center of a federal subjects of Rus ...

Samara Oblast Samara Oblast (, ) is a federal subjects of Russia, federal subject of Russia (an oblast). Its administrative center is the types of inhabited localities in Russia, city of Samara. From 1935 to 1991, it was known as Kuybyshev Oblast. As of the Rus ...

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

. It is the sixth stage of the Volga-Kama Cascade of dams, and the second largest of them by installed power generating capacity.

General data

Construction started in 1950 and was completed in 1957. The complex consists of earth-fill dam, 2800 m long, 750 m wide and 52 m high, concrete spillway dam, 980 m long, power plant house, 700 m long, and two-lane navigable locks. Installed power is 2,488 MW, average annual production is 11,700 GWh. The power house has 20 generator units with Kaplan turbines, 4 of 120 MW and 16 of 125.5 MW at 22.5 m head. The dam forms

Kuybyshev Reservoir Kuybyshev Reservoir or Kuybyshevskoye Reservoir () is a reservoir of the middle Volga and lower Kama in Chuvashia, Mari El Republic, Republic of Tatarstan, Samara Oblast and Ulyanovsk Oblast, Russia. It is sometimes called as Samara Reservoir an ...

Economic value

The station covers peak loads and maintains frequency stability in the unified power system of Russia (UES), controls flood and maintains navigable waterway. Lower hydroelectric stations are utilised more effectively because of seasonal and over-year regulation provided by the dam. Energy produced by station is transferred by four 500 KV lines – two of them to UES of central Russia and two to UES of the

Urals The Ural Mountains ( ),; , ; , or simply the Urals, are a mountain range in Eurasia that runs north–south mostly through Russia, from the coast of the Arctic Ocean to the river Ural (river), Ural and northwestern Kazakhstan.

and the Middle Volga.

History

The idea of hydroelectric station on the Volga near

Samara Bend The Samara Bend (''Samarskaya Luka''; ) is a large hairpin bend of the middle Volga River to the east where it meets the Samara River. It is situated in the Samara region of Russia. As the Volga enters its middle course it reaches the Zhiguli ...

was proposed by

Gleb Krzhizhanovsky Gleb Maksimilianovich Krzhizhanovsky (; 24 January Old_Style_and_New_Style_dates.html" ;"title="nowiki/>Old Style and New Style dates">O.S. 12 January1872 – 31 March 1959) was a Soviet Union">Soviet scientist, statesman, revolutionary, Old Bol ...

in 1910. Ten years later K. V. Bogoyavlensky proposed a hydroelectric station near Perevoloki, utilizing naturally existing water level difference. The disrupted economic system of the time did not allow this project to be realized. In the early 1930s the Volga near Samara Bend and

Yaroslavl Yaroslavl (; , ) is a city and the administrative center of Yaroslavl Oblast, Russia, located northeast of Moscow. The historic part of the city is a World Heritage Site, and is located at the confluence of the Volga and the Kotorosl rivers. ...

was surveyed, and some dam projects were proposed. In 1937 the project of a dam near the villages of Perevoloki and Krasnaya Glinka was approved. Forced labour from Kuybyshev Camp was used (up to 40,000 people). In the autumn of 1940, oil fields were found near the construction site, causing a halt in construction. The

Hydroproject Hydroproject (, Gidroproekt) is a Russian hydrotechnical design firm. Based in Moscow, it has a number of branches around the country. Its main activities are design of dams, hydroelectric stations, canals, sluices, etc. Hydroproject and its p ...

Institute made a survey in 1949, after which a decision was made to build the hydroelectric station near

. On 21 August 1950, the project to create a station with installed power of 2.1

gigawatts The watt (symbol: W) is the unit of power or radiant flux in the International System of Units (SI), equal to 1 joule per second or 1 kg⋅m2⋅s−3. It is used to quantify the rate of energy transfer. The watt is named in honor o ...

was approved. Construction was started, as before, with

forced labour Forced labour, or unfree labour, is any work relation, especially in modern or early modern history, in which people are employed against their will with the threat of destitution, detention, or violence, including death or other forms of ...

used. Construction was completed in 1957.

Locks

In July 1955 the first steamer vessel passed through the lower locks. The main stream of the Volga was shut off in November of that year, and the first turbine was put under load on 29 December 1955. In less than a year, by October 1956, 1000

gigawatthour A kilowatt-hour (unit symbol: kW⋅h or kW h; commonly written as kWh) is a non-SI unit of energy equal to 3.6 megajoules (MJ) in SI units, which is the energy delivered by one kilowatt of power for one hour. Kilowatt-hours are a common b ...

s of electric energy was produced. In 1956, 12 turbines were put under load and the next 7 in 1957. On 10 August 1958, the station was renamed after

Vladimir Lenin Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov ( 187021 January 1924), better known as Vladimir Lenin, was a Russian revolutionary, politician and political theorist. He was the first head of government of Soviet Russia from 1917 until Death and state funeral of ...

, (). In May 1959 all constructions were finished. During construction the main stream of the Volga was shut in record time – in 19.5 hours during the period of minimal discharge ( 3800 m³/s ). Each turbine unit was mounted in an average of one month, half the usual time needed for that type of hydroelectric stations at that time. Later it was revealed that the turbines were actually able to run at an output of 115

megawatts The watt (symbol: W) is the unit of power or radiant flux in the International System of Units (SI), equal to 1 joule per second or 1 kg⋅m2⋅s−3. It is used to quantify the rate of energy transfer. The watt is named in honor o ...

instead of the 105 megawatts designed; this increased the produced power up to 2.3 gigawatts.

References

{{Volga River Dams in Russia Hydroelectric power stations built in the Soviet Union Hydroelectric power stations in Russia Buildings and structures in Samara Oblast Dams completed in 1957 Dams on the Volga River

General data

Economic value

History

Locks

See also

References