The advent of modern methods of using electricity was preceded by a number of discoveries in physics and engineering, scattered in time over several centuries. Science has left us a dozen names involved in this epoch-making process. Among them are Russian discoverers.
Electric arc of Petrov
The story of the emergence of electricity would have been different if it were not for the experimenter physician and diligent self-taught Vasily Petrov (1761-1834). This scientist, driven by his own little-understood curiosity, conducted many experiments. His key achievement was the opening of the electric arc in 1802.
Petrov proved that it can be used for practical purposes - including for welding metals, smelting and lighting. Then the experimenter created a large galvanic battery. The history of the development of electricity owes a lot to Vasily Petrov.
Candle Yablochkova
Another Russian inventor who contributed to the progress in the energy sector is Pavel Yablochkov (1847-1894). In 1875, he created a carbon arc lamp. The name “Yablochkov’s candle” was assigned to her. The invention was first demonstrated to the general public at the Paris World Exhibition. So the history of the origin of light was written. Electricity, in the sense in which we are all used to understanding it, was getting closer.
Lamp Yablochkova, despite the revolutionary ideas, had several fatal flaws. After disconnecting from the source, it went out, and it was no longer possible to start the candle again. Nevertheless, the history of the origin of electricity rightfully left the name of Pavel Yablochkov in its annals.
Incandescent lamp Lodygin
The first domestic experiments related to urban electric lighting were conducted by Alexander Lodygin in St. Petersburg in 1873. It was he who invented the incandescent lamp. However, the attempt to introduce the new product into mass operation was unsuccessful - it failed to take a niche from the ubiquitous gas lamps. The tungsten filament patent was sold to a foreign company General Electric.
Russian enthusiasts, however, did not lose their enthusiasm. Shortly before World War I, the Electric Lighting Society received the right to produce incandescent lamps. Grandiose plans did not materialize due to the bloodshed, economic collapse and general devastation. By 1917, incandescent lamps were only in rich estates, successful stores, etc. In general, even in two capitals, such lighting covered only a third of buildings. A lot of people regarded electricity as incredible luxury, and each new illuminated display window attracted the attention of thousands of citizens.
Power Transmission
Perhaps the story of the emergence of electricity in Russia would have been different if at the turn of the XIX-XX centuries. there were no such problems with power supply. If factories, villages or cities acquired a new source of energy, then they had to buy generators with low power. There have not yet been any government electrification financing programs. If this turned out to be an initiative of the city, then, as a rule, funds for the new product were allocated from bins and the reserve fund.
The history of electricity shows that countries achieved dramatic changes related to electrification only after full-fledged power plants appeared in them. Even then, the capacity of such enterprises was enough to provide energy to entire regions. The first power station in Russia appeared in 1912, and the initiator of its creation was the very same “Electric Lighting Society”.
The construction site of such an important infrastructure was the Moscow province. The station was called "Power Transmission." Her founding father is considered a process engineer Robert Klasson. The power plant, which operates today, bears his name. At first, peat was used as fuel. Klasson personally chose a place near the pond (water was needed for cooling). Peat extraction was led by Ivan Radchenko, who also became known as a revolutionary and member of the RSDLP.
Thanks to Power Transmission, the story of the use of electricity has received a new bright page. For its time, it was a unique experience. Energy was supposed to be supplied to Moscow, but the distance between the city and the station was 75 kilometers. This meant that it was necessary to draw a high-voltage line, analogues of which were not yet in Russia. The situation was complicated by the fact that the country did not have legislation governing the implementation of such projects. Cables had to pass through the territory of many noble estates. The owners of the home-made station personally bypassed the aristocrats and persuaded them to support the undertaking. Despite all the difficulties, they managed to draw the lines, and the domestic history of electricity acquired a serious precedent. Moscow got its energy.
Stations and trams
Appeared in the tsarist era and stations of a smaller scale. The history of electricity in Russia owes much to the German industrialist Werner von Siemens. In 1883, he worked on the festive illumination of the Moscow Kremlin. After the first successful experience, his company (which would later become known as a global concern) created a lighting system for the Winter Palace and Nevsky Prospect in St. Petersburg. In 1898, a small power station appeared in the capital on the Obvodny Canal. The Belgians invested in a similar enterprise on the Fontanka embankment, and the Germans in another on Novgorodskaya Street.
The history of electricity was not limited to the appearance of stations. The first tram in the Russian Empire appeared in 1892 in Kiev. In St. Petersburg, this latest form of public transport in 1907 was launched by power engineer Heinrich Graftio. The investors in the project were Germans. When the war with Germany began, they withdrew capital from Russia, and the project froze for a while.
First hydropower plants
The domestic history of electricity in the tsarist period was also marked by the first small hydroelectric power stations. The earliest appeared at the Zyryanovsky mine in the Altai Mountains. Great fame fell on the station in St. Petersburg on the Bolshaya Okhta River. One of its builders was the same Robert Klasson. Kislovodsk Hydroelectric Power Station “White Coal” served as an energy source for 400 street lamps, tram lines and pumps on mineral waters.
By 1913, there were already thousands of small hydroelectric power stations on various Russian rivers. According to experts, their total capacity was 19 megawatts. The largest hydroelectric power station was the Hindu Kush station in Turkestan (it still works today). At the same time, on the eve of the First World War, there was a noticeable trend: in the central provinces, emphasis was placed on the construction of thermal stations, and in a distant province - on the strength of water. The story of the creation of electricity for Russian cities began with large investments by foreigners. Even the equipment for the stations was almost all foreign. For example, turbines were purchased from everywhere - from Austria-Hungary to the United States.
In the period 1900-1914. The pace of Russian electrification was one of the highest in the whole world. At the same time, there was a noticeable bias. Electricity was supplied mainly for industry, but the demand for household appliances remained fairly low. The key problem continued to be the lack of a centralized plan for the country's modernization. Moving forward was carried out by private companies, while for the most part - foreign ones. The Germans and Belgians mainly financed projects in two capitals and tried not to risk their money in a distant Russian province.
GOELRO
The Bolsheviks who came to power after the October Revolution in 1920 adopted a plan to electrify the country. Its development began during the civil war. The head of the relevant commission (GOELRO - the State Commission on Electrification of Russia) was appointed Gleb Krzhizhanovsky, who already had experience working with various energy projects. For example, he helped Robert Klasson with a peat station in Moscow province. In total, the commission that created the plan included about two hundred engineers and scientists.
Although the project was intended for the development of energy, it also affected the entire Soviet economy. As a concomitant electrification of the enterprise, the Stalingrad Tractor Plant appeared. A new industrial area arose in the Kuznetsk coal basin, where the development of huge deposits of resources began.
According to the GOELRO plan, 30 power plants of regional significance (10 hydroelectric power stations and 20 thermal power plants) were to be built. Many of these enterprises operate today. Among them are Nizhny Novgorod, Kashirskaya, Chelyabinsk and Shaturskaya thermal power plants, as well as Volkhovskaya, Nizhny Novgorod and Dnieper hydroelectric power stations. The implementation of the plan led to the emergence of a new economic regionalization of the country. The history of light and electricity cannot but be connected with the development of the transport system. Thanks to GOELRO, new railways, highways and the Volga-Don Canal appeared. It was through this plan that the country's industrialization began, and the history of electricity in Russia turned another important page. The goals set by GOELRO were fulfilled in 1931.
Energy and war
On the eve of World War II, the total power capacity of the USSR was about 11 million kilowatts. The invasion of Germany and the destruction of a large part of the infrastructure greatly reduced these figures. Against the backdrop of this catastrophe, the State Defense Committee made the construction of enterprises that generate capacities part of the defense order.
With the liberation of the territories occupied by the Germans, the process of restoration of destroyed or damaged power plants began. The most important were Svirskaya, Dneprovskaya, Baksanskaya and Kegumskaya HPPs, as well as Shakhtinskaya, Krivorozhskaya, Shterevskaya, Stalinogorskaya, Zuevskaya and Dubrovskaya TPPs. The supply of electricity to the cities left by the Germans at first was provided by energy trains. The first such mobile station arrived in Stalingrad. By 1945, the domestic energy sector managed to reach pre-war production rates. Even a brief history of electricity shows that the country's modernization path was thorny and winding.
Further development
After the onset of peace in the USSR, the construction of the world's largest thermal and hydroelectric power stations continued. The energy program was carried out in accordance with the principle of further centralization of the entire industry. By 1960, electricity generation increased by 6 times compared to 1940. By 1967, the process of creating a unified energy system that united the entire European part of the country was completed. This network includes 600 power plants. Their total capacity was 65 million kilowatts.
Further emphasis in the development of infrastructure was placed on the Asian and Far Eastern regions. This is partly due to the fact that about 4/5 of all the hydropower resources of the USSR were concentrated there. The Bratsk Hydroelectric Power Station, erected on the Hangar, became the “electrical” symbol of the 1960s. Following her appeared a similar Krasnoyarsk station on the Yenisei.
Hydropower has also developed in the Far East. In 1978, the current produced by the Zeya hydroelectric station began to flow into the homes of Soviet citizens. The height of its dam is 123 meters, and the generated power is 1330 megawatts. The real miracle of engineering in the Soviet Union was considered the Sayano-Shushenskaya hydroelectric power station. The project was implemented in the difficult climate of Siberia and remoteness from large cities with the necessary industry. Many details (for example, hydraulic turbines) fell on a construction site through the Arctic Ocean, making a journey of 10 thousand kilometers.
In the early 1980s, the fuel and energy balance of the Soviet economy changed dramatically. Nuclear power plants played an increasing role . In 1980, their share in energy production was 5%, and in 1985 - already 10%. The industry was driven by the Obninsk NPP. During this period, accelerated serial construction of nuclear power plants began, but the economic crisis and the Chernobyl disaster slowed down this process.
Modernity
After the collapse of the USSR, there was a decline in investment in the electricity industry. Stations that were built, but were not yet completed, were massively preserved. In 1992, a single power grid was merged into RAO "UES of Russia". This did not help to avoid a systemic crisis in a complex economy.
The second wind of the electric power industry came in the 21st century. Many Soviet construction projects resumed. For example, in 2009 the construction of the Bureyskaya hydroelectric power station, begun back in 1978, was completed. Nuclear power plants are also being built: Baltic, Beloyarskaya, Leningradskaya, Rostov.