The history of the Cheboksary hydroelectric station is closely intertwined with the history of the city on which it was built. It would be logical to assume that we are talking about Cheboksary (after all, the hydroelectric power station is Cheboksary). However, this is not so: Novocheboksarsk is considered to be the city of power engineers. In addition, this hydroelectric power station is part of a huge design network conceived in the last century. All this and not only will be described later.
Cheboksary hydroelectric station in the ten "Big Volga"
Under blue skies, in the lap of nature of Chuvashia, in the midst of green spaces, on the banks of the Volga, a few kilometers from the capital of the republic, we conceived the construction of the Cheboksary hydroelectric station (hydroelectric power station) in the 30s of the last century. I must say that they planned to build more than one station. There was a project "Big Volga", which was led by a certain professor A. V. Chaplygin. According to the plan, it was planned to build a dozen hydroelectric facilities, among them the Cheboksary hydroelectric station (see photo below). These stations were supposed to deal not only with generating electricity, but also create collectively deep-sea routes that would connect such seas as the White, Baltic, Black and Caspian. The creators thoroughly and all-union took up the planning and carefully approached the implementation of this project.
Big Volga Plan in action
Already before the 1940s, 3 out of 10 hydrosystems were built (Ivankovskaya, Uglich and Rybinsk stations). And they would build on. However, the project had to be suspended: the Great Patriotic War began.
In the post-war years, the Big Volga project was revised and underwent significant changes. Instead of 10 hydropower plants, the plans were to build 13, that is, in addition to the three stations already built, they planned to create 6 more hydroelectric power stations on the Volga River , and 4 on the Kama River.
Four kilometers below Cheboksary
In the 1950s, Gidroenergoproekt (the institute that developed the plan) proposed a task - to build the Cheboksary hydroelectric power station in the Pikhtulino area - at its site (this is a conditional horizontal projection of the river section on which the components of the dam are located). However, the plans were again not destined to be realized.
Eleven kilometers below Cheboksary
In the 60s, the Hydroenergoproekt branch in Kuibyshev adjusted the choice of the alignment (instead of Pikhtulinsky they chose Elnikovsky) and the presence of the main structures of the Cheboksary station, as well as the correction touched the reservoir level mark (set to 68 meters).
City of Power Engineers
Before the construction of the Cheboksary hydroelectric power station was started, they first began to build a new settlement near Cheboksary, on the banks of the Volga. Between him he was called Sputnik, a small town adjacent to the capital. But it quickly grew and expanded, including nearby villages. By the way, if the point began to be built in 1960, then he secured his status as a city in 1965. They wanted to give the young satellite the name Ilyichevsk, but changed their minds, and the city became Novocheboksarsk (if the name is literally translated from the Chuvash language, then these are New Cheboksary). Now it is the second largest city in the republic after the capital.
Living story
Due to the fact that Novocheboksarsk quickly expanded its borders, he easily formed his own construction complex, which not only built residential areas with infrastructure, but also was engaged in the construction of industrial enterprises. Among which, of course, the Cheboksarskaya hydroelectric power station is in the first three. Therefore, Novocheboksarsk is often called the city of power engineers. I must say that since the founding of Novocheboksarsk, the history of the city has been developing in parallel with the history of the hydroelectric power station and is intertwined with it:
- 1960 - the year of foundation of Novocheboksarsk. In the same year, the Kuibyshev branch of Hydroenergoproekt develops adjustments to the existing program for the construction of the Cheboksary hydroelectric station.
- In 1963, all the amendments were officially recognized as valid, as a result of which the task was formed to transfer the construction of the hydroelectric station to the Elnikovsky target (that is, in fact, to the future Novocheboksarsk).
- In 1965, Novocheboksarsk was given the status of a city.
- In 1967, they created the construction control department and the managing directorate of the hydroelectric power station. The construction of the hydraulic system is declared all-Union.
- Since 1968, the first works and basic preparation for the construction of the hydroelectric complex began. The construction was somewhat delayed.
- Only in 1973, planned concrete work was underway at the future station.
- In 1980, the first distribution substation of hydroelectric power stations (ORU) began to operate.
- In November of the same year, the Volga was closed and continued to work, and on the last day of the outgoing year, the first hydraulic unit was launched at around 61 meters (out of a possible 68).
- From 1981 to 1986, 17 hydraulic units were put into operation.
- The building of the hydroelectric power station was completed by 1985, and the construction of the main structures at the hydroelectric power station was completed by 1986.
The Cheboksary hydroelectric power station is a living story, because the development, work and life of the station unfold before the eyes of contemporaries, its operation will undoubtedly bear fruit not only in Chuvashia, but also in the country as a whole. However, this hydroelectric complex has a serious problem, which appeared from the day of its construction and still remains unresolved.
Sixty eight meters
I must say that, despite the amount of work done and for 35 years of work for the good of the republic and the country, the construction of this hydroelectric power station (Cheboksarskaya hydroelectric power station) has not yet been completed, and it has not been officially commissioned. The reason is that even today the hydroelectric complex works at the reservoir mark of 63 meters instead of the 68.
There are reasonable fears of moving to the 68 mark: this is the negative impact of the Cheboksary hydroelectric station on the environment. It is believed that raising the reservoir mark will lead to a number of problems in Chuvashia, the Republic of Mari El and the Nizhny Novgorod region. Among them, there is a possible flooding of certain areas, deterioration in the quality of drinking water, the destruction of coasts, a possible environmental disaster, damage to agriculture and the forest complex. For 35 years, unfortunately, this problem has not been resolved.
To date, the owner of all structures of the Cheboksary hydroelectric power station is RusHydro.