List of the largest hydroelectric power plants in Russia

2024 Author: Howard Calhoun | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-01-17 18:37

Modern civilization has given rise to amazing titanic structures, the largest of which are comparable to such ancient monuments as the pyramids of Egypt or South America. One of these structures is the dams of hydroelectric power plants that block powerful and full-flowing rivers.

Russian hydropower plants

Russia, which has vast territories and a large supply of hydropower generated by the flow of numerous rivers, is today one of the leaders among powerful hydroelectric power plants.

In total, in the Russian Federation, if we count HPPs with a design capacity of 1 megawatt or more, there are about 150. Plus many small hydroelectric power plants in Russia. Moreover, due to the relative cheapness, availability and large reserves of untapped hydropower, this amount is gradually growing. Of course, the construction of huge hydroelectric power plants on the rivers of Russia, like the Sayano-Shushenskaya, requires very significant costs and pays off slowly, so the number of such installations is growing due to low-capacity plants.

List of Russian high power HPPs (from 1 gigawatt)

Due to the huge number of hydroelectric power plants in Russia, we will not consider them all in this article. Instead, let's take a look atthe most powerful of them (with a design capacity of 100 megawatts). Some of them form cascades of hydroelectric power stations in Russia, which are located on the same river (for example, the Angarsk cascade). Let's take a closer look at the largest hydroelectric power plants.

	Design capacity	Name	Installation and start-up of units	Subject of the Federation	Water feature
1	6, 4 gigawatts	Sayano-Shushenskaya Hydroelectric Power Plant	1978-85 2011-14	Rep. Khakassia	Yenisei River
2	6 gigawatts	Krasnoyarsk Hydroelectric Power Plant	1967-71	Krasnoyarsk region.	Yenisei River
3	4, 5 gigawatts	Bratsk Hydroelectric Power Plant	1961-66	Irkutsk Region	Angara River
4	3, 84 gigawatts	Ust-Ilim hydroelectric power station	1974-79	Irkutsk Region	Angara River
5	2, 997 gigawatts	Boguchanskaya hydroelectric power station	2012-14	Krasnoyarsk region.	Angara River
6	2, 671 gigawatts	Volga Hydroelectric Power Plant	1958-61	Volgograd region	Volga River
7	2, 467 gigawatts	Zhigulevskaya hydroelectric power station	1955-57	Samara Region	Volga River
8	2, 01 gigawatts	Bureya Hydroelectric Power Plant	2003-07	Amur Region	Bureya river
9	1, 404 gigawatts	Saratov Hydroelectric Power Plant	1967-70	Saratov Region	Volga River
10	1, 374 gigawatts	Cheboksary Hydroelectric Power Plant	1980-86	Rep. Chuvashia	Volga River
11	1, 33 gigawatts	Zeyskaya hydroelectric power station	1975-80	Amur Region	Zeya River
12	1, 205 gigawatts	Nizhnekamsk Hydroelectric Power Plant	1979-87	Rep. Tatarstan	Kama River
13	1, 035 gigawatts	Votkinsk Hydroelectric Power Plant	1961-63	Perm Region	Kama River
14	1 gigawatt	Chirkey hydroelectric power station	1974-76	Rep. Dagestan	Sulak River

After analyzing the table, one can understand that the largest hydroelectric power plants in Russia were built in the Soviet era in the 60-80s.

Only a small number were built in the Russian Federation in the 90s and the new millennium.

HPPs built in Russia with a capacity of 0, 1 – 1 gigawatts

	Design capacity	Name	Installation and start-up of units	Subject of the Federation	Water feature
1	0, 9 gigawatts	Kolyma Hydroelectric Power Plant	1981-94	Magadan region	Kolyma River
2	0, 68 gigawatts	Vilyuyskaya HPP-I and HPP-II	1967-76	Rep. Yakutia	Vilyuy river
3	0, 662 gigawatts	Irkutsk Hydroelectric Power Plant	1956-58	Irkutsk Region	Angara River
4	0, 6 gigawatts	Kurei hydropower plant	1987-94	Krasnoyarsk region.	Kureika River
5	0, 552 gigawatts	Kama Hydroelectric Power Plant	1954-58	Perm Region	Kama River
6	0, 52 gigawatts	Nizhny Novgorod Hydroelectric Power Plant	1955-56	Nizhny Novgorod Region	Volga River
7	0, 48 gigawatts	Novosibirsk Hydroelectric Power Plant	1957-59	Novosibirsk region	Ob River
8	0, 471 gigawatts	Ust-Khantai Hydroelectric Power Plant	1970-72	Krasnoyarsk region.	Khantayka River
9	0, 4 gigawatts	Irganai Hydroelectric Power Plant	1998-01	Rep. Dagestan	river Avar Koysu
10	0, 356 gigawatts	Rybinsk Hydroelectric Power Plant	1941-50	Yaroslavl Region	Volga River and Sheksna River
11	0, 321 gigawatts	Mainskaya Hydroelectric Power Plant	1984-85	Rep. Khakassia	Yenisei River
12	0, 277 gigawatts	Vilyuyskaya HPP-III (Svetlinskaya hydroelectric power plant)	2004-08	Rep. Yakutia	Vilyuy river
13	0, 268 gigawatts	Verkhnetuloma Hydroelectric Power Plant	1964-65	Murmansk region	Tuloma River
14	0, 22 gigawatts	Miatlinskaya hydroelectric power station	1986	Rep. Dagestan	Sulak River
15	0, 211 gigawatts	Tsimlyansk Hydroelectric Power Plant	1952-54	Rostov Region	Don River
16	0, 201 gigawatts	Pavlovsk Hydroelectric Power Plant	1959-60	Rep. Bashkiria	Ufa River
17	0, 201 gigawatts	Serebryanskaya HPP -1	1970	Murmansk region	Crow River
18	0, 184 gigawatts	Kuban HPP -2	1967-69	Rep. Karachay-Cherkessia	Big Stavropol k.
19	0, 18 gigawatts	Krivoporozhskaya hydroelectric power station	1990-91	Rep. Karelia	Kem river
20	0, 168 gigawatts	Ust-Srednekanskaya Hydroelectric Power Plant	2013	Magadan region	Kolyma River
21	0, 16 gigawatts	Verkhne-Svirskaya hydroelectric power station	1951-52	Leningrad region	Svir river
22	0, 16 gigawatts	Zelenchuk HPP-PSPP	1999-16	Rep. Karachay-Cherkessia	Kuban River
23	0, 156 gigawatts	Serebryanskaya HPP -2	1972	Murmansk region	Crow River
24	0, 155 gigawatts	Niva HPP -3	1949-50	Murmansk region	Niva river
25	0, 152 gigawatts	Knyazhegub hydroelectric power station	1955-56	Murmansk region	Kovda River
26	0, 13 gigawatts	Verkhneteriberskaya hydroelectric power plant	1984	Murmansk region	Teriberka river
27	0, 124 gigawatts	Narva Hydroelectric Power Plant	1955	Leningrad region	Narva river
28	0, 122 gigawatts	Svetogorsk Hydroelectric Power Plant	1945-47	Leningrad region	Vuoksa River
29	0, 12 gigawatts	Uglich Hydroelectric Power Plant	1940-41	Yaroslavl Region	Volga River
30	0, 118 gigawatts	Lesogorskaya hydroelectric power station	1937-13	Leningrad region	Vuoksa River
31	0, 1 gigawatt	Gotsatlinskaya hydroelectric power station	2015	Rep. Dagestan	river Avar Koysu

Sayano-Shushenskaya Hydroelectric Power Plant

This hydroelectric power plant is the first among the largest hydroelectric power plants in Russia. On a global scale, it takes an honorable ninth place. The hydroelectric power plant owes its name to the Sayan mountain range, in the area where it is located, and the place where the famous politician Vladimir Ulyanov (Lenin) whiled away the exile - the village of Shushenskoye.

The construction of this power industry giant began in 1961, some of the construction work was completed only in the 2000s. In honor of the builders, a whole sculptural complex was installed opposite the hydroelectric power station: engineers, installers and ordinary workers who worked on the next construction site of the century are imprinted in stone. The composition is very picturesque, making it a desirable location for travel photography.

Dam

The dam of the Sayano-Shushenskaya power plant is the highest in the Russian Federation. Its height is 0.245 km, length 1.074 km, width 0.105 km, width along the ridge 0.025 km. The stability of the dam is ensured by the unique design of the arched belt (part of the load - about 40% - is transferred to the rocky shores).

The dam goes into the rocks of the coast to a depth of 10 and 15 meters. simple calculationsshow that the concrete mixture from which the dam was erected could be enough to build a highway from Moscow to Vladivostok.

Emergencies

Perhaps the most serious test of strength for the entire Sayano-Shushenskaya hydroelectric power plant was an earthquake measuring approximately 8 points on the Richter scale, which occurred on February 10, 2011. Despite the fact that the epicenter was only 78 kilometers from the station, it did not cause any visible damage to either the dam or other structures of this Russian hydroelectric power station.

But ordinary citizens are more aware of another incident related to the Sayano-Shushenskaya hydroelectric power station - the 2009 accident. It became such a serious test for the Russian power grid that the government was forced to impose restrictions on the use of high-power incandescent lamps.

Accident

The accident in 2009 at the largest hydroelectric power station in Russia went down in history as the most significant and large-scale accident in terms of consequences at the GTS (hydraulic structures) of the Russian Federation. Seventy-five people died. The experts who conducted the investigation called it the main causes of the destruction of the turbine cover fasteners.

As a result of a powerful flow of water, the machine room was flooded, ceilings, walls and numerous station equipment were destroyed. The power supply has been completely cut off.

Possible consequences

The dam was in danger of collapse. This could become a disaster on a national scale, because the villages and cities located downstream of the Yenisei would have sufferedvery much. Human, economic and environmental losses would be enormous! Fortunately, the station workers took decisive action to prevent the development of events according to the most negative scenario.