The attraction and pride of Dagestan - the Chirkey Hydroelectric Power Station - is considered to be a pearl in the cascade of hydroelectric power stations on the Sulak River. Located in the canyon of the same name, whose rocky circus and depth are not inferior to the world famous Grand Canyon in America, this station is not only an energy infrastructure facility, but also an object for visiting tourists. The very first in the Sulak cascade of the GES of Dagestan, this station is a unique object of the symbiosis of human engineering and natural beautiful landscapes.
Union of Technology and Nature
The narrow expanding gorge of Sulak, with a width of 30 meters above the river level, was curbed by the arched dam of the Chirkey hydropower plant. The dam is 400 meters long and 232.5 meters high. The pride of Dagestan, the Chirkey Hydroelectric Power Station, occupies the 11th position in the ranking of the 25 most beautiful and highest dams in the world. Pressure structures of the dam form a reservoir with a water mass of 3 cubic kilometers and a water surface area of 42.5 square kilometers. The composition of the bottom soil of the reservoir gives its waters an unimaginably beautiful azure-turquoise color that affects all tourists.
Pride of Engineers
The Moscow branch of the USSR Glavgidrostroy was engaged in the development of the project and studies of the potential of the Sulak River. In 1933, he proposed the first project of a concrete arch-gravity dam. However, only in 1962, when the Lenhydroproject Institute took up it, supplementing with then-unique two-stage suction pipes and the arrangement of units in two rows, the project acquired the level of an innovative model. At the same time, the length of the dam tunnel was almost doubled and amounted to 730 meters. Today, the station, which is located in a seismologically unstable area, is equipped with modern sensors for recording activity within the earth's crust. And the International Commission for Control in the Field of Nuclear Tests and Strategic Arms (headquarters in Austria) in 2013 praised the station’s design as seismologically safe.
The highest in Russia
As already mentioned, the arch dam of the Chirkey hydroelectric station in the TOP-25 of the highest in the world is in eleventh place. And in Russia it is the highest. The station’s arched dam is equipped with 4 radial axial units, which are designed for a water head of 170 meters.
Energy value
The Chirkey Hydroelectric Power Station, whose photo is striking in its scale and beauty, is one of the stations of the Dagestan branch of JSC RusHydro. The station is the most powerful in the North Caucasus, its installed capacity is 10 thousand MW, and over the period of its operation it has generated more than 88 billion kilowatts of electricity. The highest in the cascade of small hydropower plants in Dagestan, it is the regulator of the loads of the entire energy system in southern Russia at the peak stage. The Chirkey station is a kind of ambulance in case of emergency situations and the possible failure of thermal stations. It is capable of its power to compensate for losses in the energy system of the whole country.
Water control function
In the downstream, the Chirkey hydropower plant is not limited in water discharge regimes. By regulating the flow of water in the Sulak River, it affects the productivity of the underlying stations and performs a water pressure function for vast territories near the station. The reservoir formed by the dam is a valuable source of fresh water both for the needs of the population and for industrial consumption. The uniqueness of the dam is recognized not only by the world's power engineers, but also by environmentalists.
We build the whole world
For 17 years (1963-1980), at an accelerated pace, with the involvement of working potential from all over the USSR, more than 1.5 million cubic meters of concrete were laid in the body of the dam of the Chirkey hydroelectric station. Overlapping the river was carried out using the innovative method of explosion along the contour with a smooth breakaway rock. The charge weight totaled 37 tons of explosive. Seismological instability and the earthquake in 1970, when construction stopped for up to six months, also brought a lot of difficulties. But in 1981, the station gave the first electricity at full capacity.
Gidrostroyevskie dynasties
The satellite village of Dubki station was created in 1960 for builders from all republics of the former Soviet Union and is designed for a population of about 10 thousand people. Its infrastructure has been preserved and today - three preschool institutions, one school, two cinemas and a palace of culture, a hospital complex and an indoor pool. By the end of construction work at the hydroelectric station, a branch of the electronic goods manufacturing plant and a clothing factory were commissioned. Dynasties of station builders live in the villages - parents built, children finished, and grandchildren work at hydroelectric power stations. The modern village of Oaks is the administrative unit of the Kazbekovsky district. The administration supports the development of multinational cultural societies, develops sports and implements methods of local self-government. An example is the successful fisheries, which in itself has already become a tourist attraction in the area.
Trout, sturgeon and other fish
Not one excursion to the Chirkey hydropower plant is complete without visiting a trout farm, organized as an auxiliary. The innovative decision of the local government in organizing a trout farm not only gave jobs to local residents, but also performs an environmental function. Herbivorous trout prevents soaking of drainage facilities. The farm releases the grown fry in the reservoir and breeds in special pools. Industrial fish farming is difficult and time-consuming, but in this case it is an example of rational and efficient use of available resources. Golden trout is a capricious and whimsical fish, for which all conditions are created here. And this is the flow of water, and the optimal temperature regime, and special feeds that are purchased in Moscow itself. In five ponds of the farm, other valuable species of commercial fish (Siberian sturgeon, hybrids of bester and rainbow trout) are also bred. This first experience in fish farming in the north of Dagestan was successful and promising. Dubkintsy plans to expand production and increase the tourist attractiveness of the region.
Tourism development
Like any energy facility, the Chirkey hydroelectric station is a sensitive facility of increased danger and enhanced protection. A visit to it is possible only as part of an organized group. But even if you are a solitary tourist in the "land of mountains", you should go to this station and enjoy the beauty of the rock circus of the Sulak gorge and the unimaginable coolness of the mountain serpentine. This magnificent building in the midst of multi-ton rocks will surely amaze with the power of human thought and deed and will make you think about the role of humanity in the life of the planet and the impact of our activities on its wealth.