The Chirkey hydroelectric power plant is located on the Sulak River in Dagestan. The largest hydroelectric power station in the North Caucasus, the highest arch dam in Russia. And perhaps one of the most beautiful.
The construction of the hydroelectric power station began in 1964 and ended in 1978. The most basic structure of the complex is, of course, the dam - a beautiful arch 232.5 m high and 338 m long along the crest. The thickness of the dam is from 6 (only SIX!) to 30 m But enough of the meager technical data, read it yourself on Wikipedia. Let's look at this marvel of engineering!
1. The total height of the structure is 232.5 m. In fact, the height of the arched part of the biconvex curvature is 185 meters. It stands on a wedge-shaped concrete plug 48 meters high. The thickness of the arch smoothly changes from 30 meters below to 6 meters above. 
2. The width of the Chirkey Gorge at the dam site is only 30 meters. The construction area is very complex in terms of geological conditions. Moreover, many problems got out only during construction. 
3. The narrowness of the gorge and the rejection of the underground machine room led to non-standard layout solutions for the entire hydroelectric complex. For example, four main transformers weighing more than 1000 tons are located on the roof of the machine room. In the photo on the left you see an administrative building, and on the right - two reinforced concrete pockets (pockets play the role of additional fire protection) for two transformers. 
4. For the first time in world practice, a two-row layout of hydraulic units with a two-tier arrangement of suction pipes was used. In the photo, the upper pool is on the left, and the lower pool is on the right. 
5. HPP power - 1000 MW, average annual output- 2.47 billion kWh. The HPP building has 4 radial-axial hydraulic units with a capacity of 250 MW each, operating at a design head of 170 m. 
6. Spiral chamber of one of the turbines. Compared to the Zeya hydroelectric power station, here the size of the chamber is very modest, but here the pressure is 170 meters (against 80). 
7. Due to the narrowness of the gorge, the water mark in the downstream can vary by 15 meters. Therefore, in fact, the engine room here is underwater. At the moment of the greatest discharge of water, only its roof with buildings remains visible. And lifebuoys appeared after the accident in the Sayans. Although the sense of them ... 
8. Water is supplied to the units through 4 turbine conduits with a diameter of 5.5 meters. Usually they are placed in the body of the dam, but here for the first time in the USSR they were taken out of the arch. This made it possible to relieve its stressed state, make the arch thinner and simplify the construction of the dam. But on the dam itself, I had to suffer with a water intake - this is a tower almost as high as a twenty-story building in a seismically dangerous place. On the picture gelio_nsk figachit bow chistoprudov a. 
9. The project of the station included a huge complex of underground workings. Three mines, various adits, culverts and motor transport tunnels. 
10. The banks of the gorge, in which the hydroelectric power station was built, were like brickwork, only these rocky bricks were not fastened with mortar. Therefore, they passed water like a sieve. If nothing is done with them, then it will not be possible to fill the reservoir - all the water will go away. Therefore, from both banks, cement adits were laid in five tiers for a length of 150-250 meters. And from them, wells 50 meters deep were drilled, into which the solution was pumped under high pressure. It filled all the voids in the rock and created an almost waterproof barrier. Everything was fine with the right bank, but the left one let us down. Pay attention to the photo. Below - a huge concrete patch, and in the slope - 6 tiers of orange spots. These are the consequences of a huge collapse of several tens of thousands of cubic meters. 
11. A huge piece fell off the rock, which formed a grotto. The upper part of the rock was still held by some miracle, but it could also slide down. Then the dam would at least have to be redesigned and it would not have been possible to make such an elegant arch. And in the worst case, the gate would be ruined. The grotto was quite easy to concrete, but what to do with the hanging rock? A very dangerous decision was made for the construction. In the depths of the left bank, in a healthy rock, 6 adits were passed on different tiers, located along the river. From them, transverse workings were passed, already to the shore. Their sinking was carried out just in this miraculously hanging rock. And the work required jewelry precision and accuracy, so as not to provoke a new collapse. In the longitudinal adits and on the shore, powerful reinforced concrete beams were concreted, which were then tightened with jacks. Thus, the left bank was fortified. 
12. General form to the engine room transformer substation and gorge. 
13. On May 14, 1970, the hydroelectric power station under construction was at the epicenter of a 9-point Dagestan earthquake. The HPP facilities were not damaged, but the construction of the HPP was suspended for some time. The fact is that the seismic wave of the greatest force worked not to separate, but to press the unstable array of the left bank against the rock. That's where he stayed. 
14. Cable cranes were installed for concreting the dam. Two overpasses are mounted on both banks, three trolleys move along each of them. Two cables are thrown from each cart to its pair on the other side, along which another cart rides. But from it the cable is already lowered down, to a depth of three hundred meters. The crane driver does not see the bottom of the gorge and receives all commands via radio from the operator. But it's still half the trouble. 
15. The main problem was in the design of the cable cranes themselves - it is flexible. Four hundred meters of cables were thrown across the gorge. And lowering the load down to a depth of three hundred meters, it was necessary to take into account not only the buildup from the wind of the entire structure, but also, the most difficult, the emptying of a 25-ton bucket of concrete. After all, in fact, such a crane is a stretched bow, where the bowstring is the same four-hundred-meter cables stretched under the weight of the load through the gorge. And after an instant dumping of 25 tons concrete mix into the next block of concreting, the entire structure shot into space. But machinists and operators have learned to compensate for this. 
16. Downstream and access tunnel portal. Its construction also caused many problems: the tunnellers stumbled upon a fault, which, due to the turn of the tunnel, now went along it. You can't change the tunnel's tracing - there's just nowhere to put the portal. I had to change the tunneling technology: first we went through a small advanced adit, then we worked out pieces of a large adit from it and immediately concreted the permanent lining. The speed of penetration has dropped many times. 
17. The switchgear (outdoor switchgear) is nestled on the right bank, and the entire area in front of the dam is shrouded in wires. 
18. I want to remind you that a dam is not a monolithic piece of concrete. It is built in "small" cubes. The length of the section along the dam is 15 meters. The depth of the block is taken equal to the thickness of the arch in this place. But the height is only 1.5 meters. This is due to the convenience of work, the amount of concrete produced by the plant and many other factors, including cooling. 
19. According to the project, in the body of the dam, after 1.5 meters, there are pipe coils through which river water circulated - the concrete heats up during solidification and must be cooled. In the photo you see one of the adits in the body of the dam. On the left are two cabinets - now there are pipes for cementing and various sensors, and earlier there were fittings for cooling. 
20. One of two vertical shafts with a depth of about 250 meters. One has an elevator and a cable channel installed, and this one is not used in any way. Previously, concrete was fed through it to various levels of cement adits. 
21. A hole in hell or a slide in Dagestan. :) This is a tunnel-type operational spillway. It consists of a tunnel section 510 meters long and 12.6 meters high, a 144-meter open flume and a 77-meter long end springboard with side discharge. The speed of water, or rather, the water-air mixture in the underground tunnel reaches 55 meters per second. This made the most severe demands on the quality and geometry of the concrete masonry in the tunnel. 
22. The climate of the area of the Chirkey hydroelectric station is arid. In the entire history of operation of the Chirkeyskaya hydroelectric power station (the first hydroelectric unit of the station was put into operation in 1974), water was discharged idly only three times. 
23. The height of the drawdown of the reservoir of the Chirkeyskaya HPP from October to April is 40 m. In the center of the dam there is a water intake device - the same tower 64 meters high and 20 m wide. 
24. Downstream in all its glory. On the right - an open flume and the beginning of the lateral discharge of the operational spillway. 
25. Outdoor switchgear. 
26. In order to appreciate the full scale and beauty of the dam, you need to climb the mountains nearby. There is a beautiful view from there. 
27. Breathtaking view from the top ridge. 
28. Unfortunately, the photo cannot convey that the thickness of the dam here is only SIX meters! 
29. But, believe me, it takes your breath away when you see a huge reservoir on one side, and a two-hundred-meter abyss on the other. 
I continue to rake in tons of photo information from our Dagestan blog tour with RusHydro. And today we will talk about another pride of our hydro-construction idea, a unique hydroelectric power station located in a fabulously beautiful place - the Chirkeyskaya hydroelectric power station.
Chirkeyskaya HPP located on the Sulak River near the village of Dubki, in the Buynaksky district of Dagestan. It is the largest hydroelectric power plant in the North Caucasus. It is included in the Sulak HPP cascade, being its upper step regulating the entire cascade. In addition, it is the main regulating station in the United Energy System of the South of Russia. Plus, in emergency situations, it is able to quickly replace the missing capacity of 150-300 MW of thermal power plants. The dam of the Chirkeyskaya HPP is the second highest (232.5 m) after the Sayano-Shushenskaya HPP (245 m) and the highest arch dam in Russia.
The installed capacity of the station is 1,000 MW, the provided capacity is 950 MW, and the average annual electricity generation is 2,430 million kWh.
In 1928 - 1930, the Leningrad branch of Energostroy carried out field surveys and design studies on the hydropower use of the Sulak River. The result of which was that the Chirkeyskaya hydroelectric power station should be in these places. Since 1931, the design of the station has been carried out by the Moscow branch of Glavhydroelectrostroy, which in 1933 prepared a draft design of a hydroelectric power station with an arch-gravity concrete dam, but it was rejected due to the need to continue survey work in the alignment of the Chirkeyskaya hydroelectric power station due to difficult engineering and geological conditions.
1956 - 1960 returned to this problem, but the design of the station was already transferred to the Baku branch of the Hydroproject. Two options for the layout of the HPP were considered - with arch and earthen dams. The first option was chosen and approved by Decree of the Council of Ministers of the USSR No. 570 of June 8, 1962.
2. View of the Sulak Canyon from the crest of the dam. By the way, in terms of its depth in this place (1,920 m), it significantly exceeds its well-known brother, the Colorado River Canyon (depth up to 1,800 m) in North America. 
In practice, everything turned out to be not so simple, so it was decided to transfer further patronage of the project to the Lengidroproekt Institute, which, having analyzed it, made significant changes to the project, namely: the abandonment of the underground building of the hydroelectric power station in favor of the dam building due to doubts about its reliability in difficult geological conditions; design of the HPP building with a two-row arrangement of hydroelectric units, which made it possible to halve the length of the building; a change in the design of the construction tunnel with an increase in its length from 350 m to 730 m, which made it possible to move it beyond the unstable section of the slope.
On December 14, 1967, the technical design of the Chirkeyskaya HPP was approved by order of the Council of Ministers of the USSR No. 2881-R, but the go-ahead to start construction was already given on June 11, 1963 by order of the USSR Ministry of Energy No. 84. The construction of temporary roads to the HPP construction site from Buynaksk and Kizilyurt began , as well as power transmission lines necessary for power supply of the construction - 35 kV power transmission line from the Buynakskaya substation and 110 kV power transmission line Chiryurt-Chirkey by the Chirkeygesstroy Construction Department. In August 1963, the development of the site for the construction of the station began, and in November 1964, the site was finally selected for the permanent settlement of hydropower engineers Dubki.
3. General view of the switchgear (open switchgear) - 330 kV, control building with an observation deck and an elevator shaft. 
On October 29, 1967, the Sulak River was blocked, and on February 28, 1970, the first concrete was laid in the foundation of the dam (bank openings of the plug). The work, as always at that time, went according to Stakhanov's way, record after record, and already on August 13, 1974, the dam of the Chirkeyskaya hydroelectric power station was put under pressure. On August 7, 1974, the filling of the Chirkey reservoir began.
The first hydraulic unit of the Chirkeyskaya HPP was launched on December 22, 1974, at the intermediate level of the reservoir and the dam, built to a height of 185 m. The second and third hydroelectric units were launched on September 28 and December 30, 1975, respectively. The last, fourth hydraulic unit was put into permanent operation on June 30, 1976.
Officially, the construction of the Chirkeyskaya hydroelectric power station was completed on February 9, 1981 with the signing of an act of acceptance of the hydroelectric complex for commercial operation. During the construction of the Chirkeyskaya HPP, 2.686 million m³ of earthwork and rock work were carried out (including 2.143 million m³ of rock excavation), 1.491 million m³ of concrete and reinforced concrete were laid, 9.8 thousand tons of metal structures and mechanisms were assembled.
4. By the way, we will not see such beauty soon. According to the plan of the RusHydro modernization program, the local outdoor switchgear-330 kV will be replaced by a modern switchgear - 330 kV (gas-insulated switchgear) 
The structure of the plant includes an arch dam, a dam building of a hydroelectric power station, an operational tunnel spillway and the Tishiklinskaya dam (not part of RusHydro, but belongs to the municipality Chirkey Village, Buynaksky District) located 10 km above the dam designed to protect against flooding of the valley Shuraozen river.
5. General view of the dam of the Chirkey hydroelectric power station and the reservoir. The area of the Chirkey reservoir is 42.5 km², the total and useful volume is 2.78 and 1.32 km³, respectively. The concrete arch dam is divided into 18 concreting sections 16 m wide. It has a crest length of 338 m and a maximum height of 232.5 m. The dam itself consists of an arch part, a wedge-shaped plug and a right-bank abutment. A feature of the dam is that it has a double curvature - it is concave not only horizontally, but also vertically. Thanks to this and its arched structure, its width is only 6 meters at the crest and 30 meters at the base of the dam. 
The base of the dam is a plug 48 m high, 40 m wide and 88 m long along the base, in the lower part of which there is a longitudinal cavity of an elliptical shape 21 m long and 21 m span. The central part of the dam 75 m long (four sections) is a station. It has inclined water intakes (from the side of the upper face) and 4 turbine conduits (located on the lower face of the dam).
6. Turbine conduits have a diameter of 5.5 m and an average length of 250 m. For the convenience of monitoring the condition of the platinum, 10 galleries have been created at different levels. 
8. Another panorama of the Sulak river canyon 
9. When we were at the station, the water level in the reservoir was quite low, and we could observe such a picture. All these items can swim :) 
10. The inlet of the operational spillway of the Chirkeyskaya HPP has a span of 22 m, is blocked by a segment gate 14 m high. The operational spillway is located on the left bank, 85 m from the dam. The discharge capacity of the spillway is 2,400 m³/s at FPU and 2,900 m³/s at FPU. 
11. Lower pool of the Chirkey hydroelectric power station 
13. The HPP building is of the dam type, directly adjacent to the dam plug, has a length of 60 m and a width of 43.8 m. 
17. We begin our tour of the hydroelectric power station itself and, of course, we are looking for any "raisins". Here, for example, is one of the tunnels passing through the body of the dam. 
19. And this is the machine room, where 4 vertical hydraulic units are installed with radial-axial turbines RO 230 / 9896-V-450 manufactured by the Kharkov Turbine Plant and VGSF 930 / 233-30 generators with a capacity of 250 MW each manufactured by Uralelektrotyazhmash. 
Another highlight of the station is the two-row arrangement of these same hydraulic units with a two-tier arrangement of suction pipes. This made it possible to almost halve the length of the structure. Such a revolutionary solution in hydro construction was implemented for the first time in Russia and there are no analogues in our country. Accordingly, the station has two parallel machine rooms.
21. As part of the modernization program, the equipment is constantly being updated, so soon the last hydroelectric unit No. 2 will be like new 
22. And this is the Central control panel 
25. This is how, in short, the Chirkeyskaya HPP looks like. 
Many thanks to the press service of JSC RusHydro, as well as Khaibulaeva Patimat Sirazhutdinovna, head of the public relations group of the Dagestan branch of JSC RusHydro, for such an interesting and rich program.
More from my Dagestan tour with JSC RusHydro:
Gotsatlinskaya HPP.
The attraction and pride of Dagestan - the Chirkey hydroelectric power station - is rightfully considered a pearl in the cascade of hydroelectric power stations on the canyon, whose rocky circus and depth are not inferior to the world-famous Grand Canyon in America, this station is not only an energy infrastructure object, but also an object of visiting tourists. The very first in the Sulak cascade of HPP of Dagestan, this station is a unique object of 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 arch dam of the Chirkey hydroelectric power station. The station dam is 400 meters long and 232.5 meters high. The pride of Dagestan, the Chirkeyskaya HPP, ranks 11th in the ranking of the 25 most beautiful and tallest dams in the world. The pressure structures of the dam form a reservoir with a water mass volume of 3 cubic kilometers and a water surface area of 42.5 square kilometers. The composition of the soil of the bottom of the reservoir gives its waters an unimaginably beautiful azure-turquoise color that amazes all tourists.
Pride of the Engineers
The development of the project and research of the potential of the Sulak River was carried out by the Moscow branch of the Glavgidrostroy of the USSR. In 1933, he also proposed the first draft of a concrete arch-gravity dam. However, only in 1962, when the Lengidroproekt institute took up the project, supplementing it with two-tier suction pipes and the arrangement of units in two rows, which were unique at that time, 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 inside the earth's crust. And the International Commission for the Control of Nuclear Tests and Strategic Arms (headquartered in Austria) in 2013 gave the highest rating to the station project as seismologically safe.
The highest in Russia
As already mentioned, the arch dam of the Chirkeyskaya hydroelectric power station in the TOP-25 of the highest in the world is in eleventh place. And in Russia it is the highest. The arched dam of the station is equipped with 4 radial axial units, which are designed for a water mass head of 170 meters.
Energy value
The Chirkeyskaya HPP, whose photo is striking in 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 Dagestan, it is the load regulator of the entire energy system of southern Russia at the peak stage. Chirkeyskaya station is a kind of " Ambulance» in case of possible failure of thermal power plants. With its power, it is able to compensate for losses in the energy system of the entire country.
Water regulating function
In the downstream, the Chirkeyskaya HPP is not limited in water discharge modes. By regulating the flow of water in the Sulak River, it affects the performance of downstream stations and performs a water-pressure function for vast areas 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 with the whole world
Over 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 into the body of the Chirkeyskaya hydroelectric dam. The river was blocked using an innovative method of blasting along the contour with a smooth rock spall. The total weight of the charge was 37 tons explosive. Seismological instability and an earthquake in 1970, when construction stopped for a period of up to six months, also brought many difficulties. But in 1981, the station gave the first electricity at full capacity.
Hydrostroy dynasties
The satellite settlement of the Dubki station was created in 1960 for builders from all the republics of the former Soviet Union and is designed for a population of about 10 thousand people. Its infrastructure has been preserved even today - three preschool institutions, one school, two cinemas and a palace of culture, a hospital complex and an indoor swimming pool. Towards the end construction works A branch of a factory for the production of electronic goods and a clothing factory were put into operation at the hydroelectric station. The dynasties of the builders of the station live in the villages - the parents built, the children completed the construction, and the grandchildren work at the hydroelectric power station. The modern village of dubki is an administrative unit of the Kazbekovsky district. The administration supports the development of multi-ethnic cultural societies, develops sports and introduces methods of local self-government. An example is the successful fish farming, which in itself has already become a landmark of the area.
Trout, sturgeon and other types of fish
Not a single excursion to the Chirkey hydroelectric power station is complete without a visit organized as an ancillary one. The innovative decision of the local government in organizing a trout farm not only gave jobs to local residents, but also performs an ecological function. Herbivorous trout prevents the flooding of drainage structures. The farm releases grown fry in the reservoir and breeds in special pools. Industrial fish farming is difficult and time-consuming, but in this case this is an example of the 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 reservoirs, the farms also breed other valuable species of commercial fish (Siberian sturgeon, bester hybrids and rainbow trout). This first experience of fish farming in the north of Dagestan turned out to be successful and promising. The Dubkin people plan to expand production and increase the tourist attractiveness of the region.
Tourism development
Like any energy facility, the Chirkeyskaya HPP is a sensitive facility of increased danger and enhanced security. Visiting it is possible only as part of an organized group. But even if you are a solo tourist in the "country of mountains", you should go to this station and enjoy the beauty of the rocky circus of the Sulak Gorge and the unimaginable steepness of the mountain serpentine. This majestic structure in the midst of multi-ton rocks will surely amaze with the power of human thought and deed and make you think about the role of humanity in the life of the planet and the impact of our activities on its wealth.
The Chirkeyskaya hydroelectric power station is the pride of Russian hydrobuilders. The station on the Sulak River is the largest hydroelectric power station in the North Caucasus and the highest arch dam in Russia.
I have never met such a warm welcome and a rich educational and excursion program at any other industrial facility as at the Chirkeyskaya HPP. We climbed literally the entire station up and down and could not stop, filming until two in the morning ...
1. The Sulak river basin is located in the northern and middle parts of Dagestan. Water from the river is used to supply the cities of Makhachkala and Kaspiysk.
2. The Chirkeyskaya HPP is included in the Sulak HPP cascade and is its first stage. I already wrote about other stations of the cascade:
- the second step.
- the third stage.
3. Morning at the largest reservoir in the North Caucasus.
4. The area of the water surface of the reservoir is 42.4 km², and the volume reaches 2.78 km³.
5. The construction of the HPP began in 1964 and lasted 14 years. An arched concrete dam with a height of 232 meters and a length of 338 meters along the ridge, a hydroelectric power station near the dam and an operational spillway were built.
6. Panorama of the Sulak canyon. It is a pity that at this time of the year the sun rises low and only slightly illuminates the crest of the dam.
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7. A road leads to the engine room through an 800-meter tunnel on the right bank.
8. Top view.
9. Sasha against the backdrop of the Chirkey reservoir, he carefully looks through his photographs.
10. A gantry crane on the crest of the dam is used to open / close the gates that regulate the main flow of water to the hydro generators.
11. Normally supported headwater level - 355 meters, dead volume level - 315.
12. Panorama from a gantry crane. At the top, the thickness of the dam is only 6 meters! No matter how hard I tried, I could not convey with my photographs the deceptive feeling of the incredible fragility of this entire concrete structure, when there is SO MUCH water behind.
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Google map will help to feel the scale of what is happening.
13. With a pressure of 170 meters, water enters the spiral chambers of hydroelectric units through water conduits with great speed.
14. The spiral chamber is designed to supply water to the turbine guide vanes. The water pressure in the chamber is 17 atmospheres.
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15. The turbine guide vane changes the flow swirl and regulates the turbine flow by turning the blades.
16. Water enters the turbine blades. Thus, the energy of the water flow is converted into mechanical energy and transferred to a hydrogenerator, which generates electricity.
17. During our visit to the station, a scheduled overhaul of the 4th hydroelectric unit was carried out.
18. Work here.
19. Due to the fact that the Sulak River passes in a narrow gorge, the designers adopted in principle new scheme layout of HPPs - two-row arrangement of hydraulic units. The machine room is divided into two parts - with two units in each.
20. Two halls - two overhead cranes with a lifting capacity of 320 tons.
21. The first 250 MW hydropower plant was connected to the grid in 1974. The last fourth unit was put into operation in 1976.
23. Control room.
24. Transformers and switchgears on the floor of the machine room.
26. HPP capacity - 1000 MW, average annual output 2.47 billion kWh.
28. So the energy of the Sulak River goes through the generator voltage switchgears to the Unified Energy System of the South of Russia.
29. At 85 meters from the dam, there is an inlet of a tunnel-type operational spillway 730 meters long. In the entire history of operation of the Chirkeyskaya hydroelectric power station, water was empty only three times - such is the arid climate in Dagestan.
30. The tunnel goes at a steep slope, then turns into a slightly inclined part, and then turns into a tray with a springboard and a side discharge-quencher. Through such a hole, you can easily spill a whole freight train - no one will notice.
31. Walk through the galleries of the dam.
A short video taken with my phone:
32. Glory and Sasha .
33. One of the shafts in the body of the dam.
34. Technical corridors.
36. At night, the station is especially beautiful.
We will talk about the largest hydroelectric power plant in the North Caucasus - the Chirkeyskaya HPP.
I have long dreamed of getting to this dam and I was lucky: I had two days at my disposal and free movement around the territory of the hydroelectric power station and beyond. I managed to shoot the dam day and night, to visit all its hard-to-reach places. I even slept on the territory of the hydroelectric power station under the noise and vibration of hydroelectric units, and not somewhere in a hotel.
The Chirkeyskaya HPP is located in a picturesque gorge on the Sulak River in the Buynaksky district of Dagestan, it is part of the Sulak HPP cascade, being its upper step regulating the entire cascade. The dam of the Chirkeyskaya HPP is the second tallest and highest arch dam in Russia.
2. The dam has a height of 232.5 meters. Comb length - 338.
3. The dam forms the Chirkeyskoe reservoir of long-term regulation (its capacity allows you to accumulate water in high-water years and use it in low-water years). The area of the reservoir is 42.5 km², the total and useful volumes are 2.78 and 1.32 km³, respectively. At the time of filming, the level of the reservoir had not yet risen to normal levels.
4. The black stripe on the rock is the usual level of the reservoir.
The electrical power of the station is 1000 MW. These are 4 hydraulic units of 250 MW each. They are located in the dam building of the hydroelectric power station. A special feature is the two-row arrangement of hydraulic units with a two-tier arrangement of suction pipes.
5. The HPP building has two parallel turbine halls due to the peculiarities of the location of the hydroelectric units.
6. Machine room
7. We go down below - the rotor of the hydrogenerator.
8. Even lower is the shaft connecting the generator rotor to the turbine.
9. Even lower - a spiral chamber - a place where water enters the turbine and spins it.
10. Reconstruction of the hydrogenerator.
12. Downstream.
Chirkeyskaya HPP is the largest hydroelectric power plant in the North Caucasus. Having high maneuverability, it is the main regulating station in the United Energy System of the South of Russia, operating in the peak part of the load schedule. Also, it performs the functions of a kind of "ambulance" in the power system, allowing in the event of an emergency exit of 150-300 MW units at thermal power plants to quickly replace the retired capacity. Due to the presence of a counter-regulator - the Miatlinskaya HPP - the station has no restrictions on discharge modes, being able to quickly change its capacity (and, accordingly, the flow to the downstream). Through deep flow regulation, the Chirkeyskaya HPP increases output at the downstream stations of the cascade, as well as provides reliable water supply to settlements and irrigation.
13. Turbine conduits.
14.
15. Let's return to the dam itself and the reservoir.
16. Due to the fact that the level of the reservoir was quite low, you can see the water intakes of the HPP. The dam has a double curvature, like a hemisphere - it is concave not only horizontally, but also vertically. This also shows up in the photographs.
17. Panorama of the complex of structures.
18. Panorama from the crest of the dam. Due to its double curvature arch structure, the dam is quite thin - only 6 meters at the crest and 30 at the base of the dam - a concrete plug 48 m high, 40 m wide and 88 m long at the base.
The passage through the dam is closed, but there are exceptions. On the crest of the dam, sheep are driven from winter to summer pastures and vice versa. I myself did not find this, thanks to Gamzat Magomedzagidovich for the photo provided.
19. Observation deck. The cylinder is the elevator shaft.
20. Tunnel-type operational spillway inlet. An eerie sight. The discharge capacity of the spillway is 2400 m³/s at FPU and 2900 m³/s at FPU. The inlet has a span of 22 m. A train could easily be dumped there. Nobody would have noticed.
21. The entire water column is held by such a segmental gate 14 m high. At the time of filming, the level of the reservoir was so low that the water was lower than the gate.
22. I propose to go down into the spillway tunnel and see how it looks inside.
23. Thanks to Gamzat Magomedzagidovich, a specialist at the Chirkey hydroelectric power station, I got inside the tunnel. I am grateful to this man for walking with me from early morning until late at night to all hard-to-reach places and along the way telling interesting stories about the station.
24. The beginning of the sloping section.
25. The tunnel itself has a horseshoe shape, 12.6 meters high. Imagine what happens here when the spillway opens.
26. At the exit of the tunnel.
27. We waited for the night. The station does not have decorative lighting, but is well enough illuminated by conventional spotlights.
30. View down from the crest of the dam.
32. Downstream.
33. Transformer platform.
34. At night, only a few people remain on duty at the station, this is enough to operate the entire station.
35. I stayed overnight at the HPP in the hope of catching the morning fog, and it was too late to go to the neighboring village, so I fell asleep comfortably right in the HPP building under the noise and vibration. But there was no fog, unfortunately.
36. On the second day, together with Mukhtar, the station operative, I climbed from the downstream to the upstream along the stairs along the entire dam.
37. There are a lot of tunnels in the body of the dam for monitoring filtration and other various parameters, so there are a lot of balconies.
38. At one of the turbine conduits.
39. Power lines that go to the outdoor switchgear 330 kV.
43. Tunnel, of which there are quite a lot both in the body of the dam and in the rocks.
45. A fish farm specializing in trout farming has been organized at the station. The trout is delicious, I tried it myself. Thanks to Bagavdin Nasrudinovich.
46. In conclusion, there will be photographs of the Chirkey Gorge, the depth of which is more than 200 meters.
51. Here you can already see the Miatlinskaya HPP - the counter-regulator of the Chirkeyskaya HPP.
52. Miatlinskaya HPP, I will talk about it next time.
I thank the Dagestan branch of JSC RusHydro for organizing the trip and for the warm welcome in general!
Thank you for your attention.