The Zhigulevskaya hydroelectric station was a dream of the Soviet government at the very dawn of the country's formation. The implementation of plans began in the 30s, and large-scale construction took place in record time after the Great Patriotic War. The history of the Zhigulevskaya hydroelectric power station is one of the pages of the industrialization of the USSR and the energy security of Russia.
From idea to start
The construction of the Zhigulevskaya hydroelectric station in 1910 was submitted to the tsarist government by a Samara engineer G. M. Krzhizhanovsky. It turned out to be realized only after the revolution, when the GOELRO plan was approved, initiated by the same engineer, but already in the status of chairman of the electrification commission.
At the beginning of the 30s, in an area located near the village of Krasnye Luki, prospecting work began to develop the energy potential of the Volga. The result was a proposal for the construction of the Kuybyshev hydroelectric station, where three points could be equipped to start work. The first construction site appeared near the village of Krasnye Luki. To ensure the large-scale project of the Zhigulevskaya hydroelectric station, a headquarters was built. But already in 1940, oil deposits were discovered at the site of the proposed location of the station, and the construction site was frozen.
After the war
In the post-war period, additional exploration work was carried out by the Hydroproject Institute. A suitable site was found near the city of Zhigulevsk. According to the project, approved in 1949, the capacity of the Zhigulevskaya hydroelectric station was laid at 2.1 million kWh .
Construction began in 1950 and immediately acquired a large scale. To implement the plans, about 50 construction and installation enterprises related to almost all of the country's ministries were involved. About 130 institutes and design bureaus took part in the design of nodes and premises; more than 1300 plants were engaged in the supply of equipment and components. I.V. Komzin was appointed head of the construction of the facility, who received the title of Hero of Socialist Labor for the development and implementation of a large-scale project.
Construction stages
HPP Zhigulevskaya is a large post-war facility that required a weakened economy to mobilize a large amount of labor and resources. The issue of human resources was resolved rather harshly - the bulk of the builders were prisoners, for their maintenance they established the Kuneev ITL, which was subordinate to the Glavgidrostroy of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the USSR.
Dumping of stone from the right bank of the Volga for the construction of the dam was started in the winter of 1950. The official start date for construction is February 18, 1951, when the first soil was removed from the area of the future foundation pit. The Zhigulevskaya hydroelectric station was an indicative construction site. To implement and accelerate the pace of work, all the advanced equipment at that time was pulled to the site.
In July 1951, the construction of lower locks and a powerful concrete plant began on the left bank of the river. In the spring of 1952, construction of an eight-kilometer spillway began, and in the summer it was time to build the upper locks of the waterworks for shipping. In December of the same year, the hospital complex was commissioned.
Shock pace
Zhigulevskaya hydroelectric power station was built at an accelerated pace, sometimes up to 20 thousand cubic meters of concrete were laid in a day, which was a record even by world standards. In December 1952, work began on concreting the bottom of the lower locks, two months later the cultural life of the builders was filled - a new oil club was commissioned in the village of Solnechnaya Polyana.
In April 1953, a stone-crushing plant began to operate, the products of which since July 30 began to be used in the construction of the hydroelectric building. The foundation of the entire slab of the Zhigulevskaya hydroelectric station was ready in July 1954. In the history of construction, the most important moment has come - the creation of the dam. The start was given on August 15, 1955, the overlap began on the left bank of the Volga, an earthen dam was washed up for 2 months. In October, the river was brought into the pit.
Overlapping the river from the right bank was completed in record time, specialists needed a little more than 19 hours for a complex operation. Over the next two weeks, work was underway to eliminate minor defects in the dam body. In November 1955, water began to fill the Kuibyshev reservoir.
The design water level in it was reached only in June 1957. At the time of reaching operational capacity, the Kuibyshev reservoir was the largest in the world - the area occupied about 6 thousand square kilometers, length - 510 meters, width in some places reached 27 kilometers.
Highscores
The history of the Zhigulevskaya hydroelectric station in July 1955 was marked by the passage of the first vessel through the lower ship locks. In November, the main channel of the Volga was blocked, in December, the installation of the first hydraulic unit was completed and its commercial operation began. During 1956-1957, the remaining eleven hydraulic units were launched. The first billion kilowatt hours was received in October 1956. The date of completion of the main stage of construction is considered October 14, 1957, when all the turbines of the hydroelectric power station have already issued industrial current.
The installation of each turbine with a capacity of 150 thousand MW took about a month, after putting them into operation it turned out that the capacity developed by the turbines reaches 115 MW. As a result, the units were re-marked, and the installed capacity of the hydroelectric power station increased to 2.3 GW.
All further efforts were directed to the construction of administrative, utility buildings of the station infrastructure and social facilities of Zhigulevsk and Stavropol. The Zhigulevskaya hydroelectric station is a unique structure, the entire hydroelectric facility has been built for seven years. During this period, almost 200 million cubic meters of earthwork was done, about 8 million cubic meters of concrete were laid, 200 thousand tons of metal structures and equipment were installed.
Exploitation
The Zhigulevskaya hydroelectric station was officially opened on August 9, 1958 in a festive atmosphere and in the presence of the first persons of the USSR. The next day, the station was renamed the Volga Hydroelectric Power Station with the name V. V. Lenin. Many construction participants received government awards. The prisoners who worked on the construction were released into the wild under an amnesty; some of the remaining prisoners were shortened their sentences.
By the beginning of August 1966, the Zhigulevskaya hydroelectric power station had generated anniversary 100 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity. In the same period, systematic automation of all control processes at the station took place, until the end of the 70s, a large-scale modernization of equipment was carried out.
With the change in the economic system in 1993, the status of the station also changed: as a result of the reorganization, the company became an open joint stock company. In 2001, the Zhigulevskaya hydroelectric power station became part of the Volzhsky Hydropower Cascade company. Since 2003, the hydroelectric station has been the supplier of electricity to the wholesale market, where it sells up to 15% of all generated energy, the remaining resources are supplied to the regulated federal market.
Modernity
To date, the owner of the station is RusHydro Holding. Zhigulevskaya hydroelectric power station is a channel hydroelectric power station, all of which facilities belong to the first capital class. The infrastructure includes:
- An earthen dam with a height of 52 meters (width - 750 m, length - 2800 m).
- The building of the hydroelectric station is 700 meters long.
- A spillway dam 980 meters long.
- Shipping locks.
The height of the Zhigulevskaya hydroelectric station in the dam part is 40.15 meters, the building of the hydroelectric station has a height of 81.1 meters. On the upper part of the dam, a railway and highway were laid by the Moscow-Samara link. The station's capacity is 2,320 MW, the average annual electricity generation is kept at 10.5 billion kWh . The machine room is equipped with 20 hydraulic units of a rotary-blade type, 14 of which have a capacity of 115 MW⋅ h , and 4 machines with a capacity of 120 MW⋅ h .
Modernization
In 2010, RusHydro entered into a contract with Power Machines for the modernization of hydraulic units. By June 2017, 19 cars received an update, the completion of the entire range of activities is scheduled for November 2017. The measures taken to upgrade the funds will increase the station's capacity to 2488 MW.
As at the beginning of construction, today the power of the Zhigulevskaya hydroelectric power station structures is amazing. Photos of the station, the dam and the entire hydro complex complex inspire respect for the genius of designers and builders.