DnieproGuES

The hydroelectric station of Dniepr , whose Russian Acronyme is DnieproGuES , is the most important hydroelectric station of Ukraine and one of largest of Europe. It is immediately upstream town of Zaporijjia, on the Dniepr.

In Russian: Днепровскаягидроэлектростанция, ДнепроГЭС (Dnieprovskaïa Gidroelektrostatsia, DnieproGuES). In Ukrainian: ДніпровськаГЕС (Dniprovs' ka GuES). The construction of a stopping on the Dniepr had already been proposed at the 19th century in order to flood a section of the river where rapids made navigation impossible. A first project of powerplant was born in 1905. For the Soviet period, the project of stopping and powerplant worked out by Ivan Alexandrov was accepted by the Commission of State for the electrification of the USSR (GOELRO). DnieproGuES was one of the first ten hydroelectric stations planned for the electrification of the country and the first of the giant building sites which had the favor of Stalin.

The stopping and its buildings were designed by the architects constructivists Viktor Vesnine and Nikolaï Kolli. A team of American specialists, under the direction of the colonel Hugh Cooper, who had with his credit celebrates it Barrage of Muscle Shoals, on the river Tennessee, took share with construction. All the machines used for work and most of the equipment of the powerplant were of American origin. The construction of the stopping, carried out by the Dniproboud trust, lasted five years, of 1927 with 1932, mobilizing 60 000 workers. This enormous building site was called Dnieprostroï or “ construction project of Dniepr ”.

In 1932, five of the nine Générateur S envisaged were brought into service. Of a power of 558 MW, the powerplant, called “ Lénine powerplant; ”, was at the time most powerful of the USSR. Multiplying by six the hydroelectric production of the country, it fed in energy the cities close to Zaporijjia, Kryvyï Rih and Dnipropetrovsk, which developed heavy industries (iron and steel industry, metallurgy of non-ferrous, mechanical engineering), in particular the production of Aluminum, large consumer of vital electricity but for the Soviet military aviation.

During the Second world war, the stopping and the powerplant, which cover with a great strategic importance, were partially destroyed by the Soviet troops in the name of the Politique of the burned ground in 1941, then by the German troops at the time of the Bataille of Dniepr in 1943, leaving the stopping seriously damaged and the practically destroyed powerplant. They were rebuilt between 1944 and 1949 and the powerplant started again in 1950. One second station of a power of 836 MW was built much longer under the Brejnev era of 1969 with 1980.

Currently, the stopping is long 800 m and high 61 m for a volume of 720 000 m ³. At the time of its setting in water, it raised the level of Dniepr of 37 m, drowning the rapids located upstream and thus making the river entirely navigable. During its long story, the stopping was greeted like one of the greatest achievements of Soviet industrialization. Today privatized, it continues to feed in energy the close industrial complexes and produces 3,6 billion kWh per annum. The water which feeds the powerplant has a drop height of 38,7 m, the tank a volume of 33,3 km ³ of water and a surface of 410 km ². The stopping is also used for the automobile traffic: it is one of the two points of passage on Dniepr with Zaporijjia.

Source

Encyclopedia off Ukraine (English).

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