Dnieper Hydroelectric Station

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Coordinates: 47°52′09″N, 35°05′13″E

The Dnieper Hydroelectric Station (or DnieproGES) is the largest hydroelectric power station in Ukraine and one of the largest in Europe. It is situated on the Dnieper River in Zaporizhzhia. The original design dates back to the GOELRO electrification plan for the USSR, which was adopted shortly after the October Revolution of 1917.

Leon Trotsky, by then out of power, campaigned for the idea within the ruling Politburo in early 1926. In a speech to the Komsomol youth movement, he said:

In the south the Dnieper runs its course through the wealthiest industrial lands; and it is wasting the prodigious weight of its pressure, playing over age-old rapids and waiting until we harness its stream, curb it with dams, and compel it to give lights to cities, to drive factories, and to enrich ploughland. We shall compel it! ^[1]

The dam and its buildings were designed by the Constructivist architects Viktor Vesnin and Nikolai Kolli. Construction began in 1927 and was finished in 1932, creating the first hydroelectric plant in the Ukrainian SSR. Generating some 650 MW, the station became the largest Soviet power plant at the time. The industrial centres of Zaporizhia, Kryvy Rih and Dnipropetrovsk grew from the power provided by the station, including such energy-consuming industries as aluminium production, which was vitally important for Soviet army aviation.

During World War II, the strategically important dam and plant were partially destroyed by retreating Soviet troops in 1941, and then again by the retreating German troops in 1943. In the end the dam was heavily damaged, and the powerhouse hall was nearly destroyed. Both were rebuilt between 1944 and 1949. Power generation was restarted in 1950. In 1969-80, the second powerhouse was built with a planned production capacity of 836 MW.

Commemorative 5 hryvnia coin.

Currently, the dam is over 800 metres long and 61 metres high. When constructed it raised the level of the Dnieper by 37 metres, flooding the rapids above and making the entire Dnieper navigable. Over its long history, the dam was hailed as one of the biggest achievements of Soviet industrialisation programmes. Today the dam has been privatised and continues to fuel the adjacent industrial complexes with an output of 3,64 billion kW hours. The pressure of the water leaving the dam is at 38,7 metres and the reservoir that is behind it is 33.3 cubic kilometres. The dam is also used by automobile traffic as it is the only second point in the city of Zaporozhia to cross the river.

[edit] Notes

1. ^ Quoted in Isaac Deutscher. The Prophet Unarmed: Trotsky: 1921-1929, Oxford University Press, 1959, reprinted by Verso, 2003, ISBN 1-85984-446-4, p.178

[edit] External links

• (English) High resolution satellite photo from Google Maps
• (English) Photos of the dam
• (Russian) Information from site dedicated to 85th anniversary of GOERLO
• (Russian) Photos of the dam
• (Russian) More photos

Dnieper River (Dnepr, Dniapro, or Dnipro)
Tributaries: Drut (R) • Berezina (R) • Sozh (L) • Pripyat (R) • Teteriv (R) • Irpin (R) • Desna (L) • Stuhna (R) • Trubizh (L) • Ros (R) • Tiasmyn (R) • Supiy (L) • Sula (L) • Pslo (L) • Vorskla (L) • Samara (L) • Konka (L) • Bilozerka (L) • Bazavluk (R) • Inhulets (R)
Reservoirs: Dnieper • Dniprodzerzhynsk • Kakhovka • Kaniv • Kiev • Kremenchuk
Hydroelectric stations: Dnieper • Dniprodzerzhynsk • Kakhovka • Kaniv • Kiev • Kremenchuk