Spandaryan Hydro Power Plant
| Spandaryan Dam | |
|---|---|
  Location of Spandaryan Dam in Armenia | |
| Country | the Republic of Armenia |
| Location | Spandaryan |
| Coordinates | 39°39′N 45°51′E / 39.65°N 45.85°ECoordinates: 39°39′N 45°51′E / 39.65°N 45.85°E |
| Purpose | Power |
| Status | Operational |
| Opening date | 1989 |
| Owner(s) | the Republic of Armenia |
| Operator(s) | Contour Global Hydro Cascade (U.S.) |
| Dam and spillways | |
| Height (thalweg) | 83 metres (272 ft) |
| Reservoir | |
| Creates | Spandaryan Reservoir |
| Total capacity | 257,000,000 cubic metres (208,000 acre·ft) |
| Active capacity | 218,000,000 cubic metres (177,000 acre·ft) |
| Power station | |
| Name | Spandaryan Hydro Power Plant |
| Operator(s) | ContourGlobal Hydro Cascade |
| Installed capacity | 76 MW |
| Annual generation | 210 GWh |
|
Website vorotancascade.am | |
The Spandaryan Hydro Power Plant is one of Armenia's largest hydro power plants. It is a part of the Vorotan cascade and its dam creates the Spandaryan Reservoir.
The plant has installed capacity of 76 MW and projected annual electricity generation of 210 GWh. It is the upper regulating building block of the Vorotan Hydroelectric Cascade. It was built back in 1989 as a result of the strategic decision to transform Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic into the key electricity producer and exporter in the South Caucasus. Today the HPP still operates, supplying with the cheapest electricity in the country. Spandaryan HPP as a part of the Vorotan Cascade, has unique role in the energetic sphere of the country, as it is a huge producer of electricity, which is not dependant on foreign export, thus ensuring energy safety of the country. In case of import difficulties of energy caring units, the plant will still supply the country with required energy capacity.
History
The Spandaryan HPP was built in 1989, near the village Borisovka now renamed as Tsghuk. Spandaryan HPP is a part of the Vorotan Hydroelectric Cascade. Planning processes of the Cascade began just after the Conference of State Planning Commission in 1951, in 1954, as it was highlighted that in a case of proper infrastructure and careful planning considering its energetic hydro resources Armenia might become an electricity importer to neighboring energy deficit areas like Azerbaijan and Iran. It was anticipated to cut the import of oil products by half thanks to the activation of the Cascade. The firstly launched HPP of the Cascade was Tatev HPP on December 1970, followed by Shamb HPP in 1978. Despite the plans, Azerbaijan SSR was against to the import cheap electricity from Armenia, thus hindering the scheduled renovation and capacity expansion to take place at the end of 1970’s. The claim to cancel the investment was supported by the arguments like hidden aims of Armenian government to stand apart from the energetically integrated system of brother republics and variation from the “traditional” import of oil to sustain the energetic system. However, the Cascade continued to gain capacity mostly because of cheap electricity supplied to non-ferrous metallurgy industry nearby in Syunik.
The Spandaryan HPP, as a part of the Vorotan Hydroelectric Cascade, according to the deal on 2014 is managed by the Contour Global Hydro Cascade (U.S.). The Vorotan Cascade of Hydroelectric Power Plants CJSC, an owner and an operator of the plant, was sold to the Contour Global Hydro Cascade (U.S.) for US$180 million but the Cascade is still state-owned. The company is pledged to make investments of around $70 million in the modernization of the Cascade within next the six years.[1]
Technical description
.JPG)
Spandaryan HPP is the inception unit of the Vorotan Hydroelectric Cascade.
The fundamental components of the Spandaryan HPP are as follows
- Water-engineering system of the reservoir
- Diversion pressure tunnel
- Penstock
- Station unit
The Spandaryan HPP is the principal entity of the course. It consists of a dam with clayey soiled bottom. The dam is built from domestically widespread materials. The height of the dam is 83m with a 315m-long edge.This dam creates the flows' long-term managing water reservoir with 218 m3 active and 257 m3 total capacities. The normal level of water is 2060 m while the 2030 m is the absolute minimum.
Spandaryan HPP hydroelectric unit has four water intake infrastructures. The first system is pressure tunnel, the second one is spillway culvert, and the third is Vorotan-Arpa tunnel for releasing water into Lake Sevan. The structures has 30 m3/sec, 80 m3/s and 15 m3/s water outlays respectively. The last, the fourth structure is a surface spillway with 160 m3/s installed capacity and inclining drop.
The sizes and abilities of diversion pressure tunnel are the following:
- Starting with 8.1 km long which has 30 meter cube/ second output capacity
- Ending by surge tank the upper-ground upper chamber which has 1.9 thousand meter cube capacity
In the last part, there is a penstock which is divided into two lines, each of them having output capacity of 15 meter cube/second. Additionally, these are linked with the two aggregates of the power station. The annual rated power generation capacity of Spandaryan HPP is 210 million kWh and a total of 76MW. Talking about the turbines of this power plant, there has been installed 1400 mm diameter ball valve in the front of each turbine. [2][3]
Reservoir
An important and vital part which allowed the Spandaryan HPP to become a reality was the Spandaryan Reservoir. Its length is 7 kilometers, width is varying from 2.5 to 3 kilometers, and the depth is 73 meters. The dam is made from ground, and the inner core is sandy. It has a height of 89 meters, 315 meters length (10 meters in the upper part). The surface area of the reservoir is 10.8 square kilometers and its volume is 217 million cubic meters. [4]
See also
References
- ↑ "Воротанский каскад ГЭС в Армении: ом стоительстбо до продажи..." [Vorotan Cascade of HPPs in Armenia: from the construction to the sale ...] (in Russian). Scientific Society of Caucasian studies. 12 August 2015. Retrieved 12 December 2015.
- ↑ http://www.minenergy.am/en/page/450
- ↑ "Vorotan Complex of HPP". www.vorotancascade.am. Retrieved 2015-12-11.
- ↑ Mkrtchyan, Anzhela (2013). RA Natural Resources. Yerevan: ANAU. p. 95. ISBN 978-9939-54-613-1.