Sayano-Shushenskaya HPP is the largest power plant in Russia in terms of installed capacity, the 7th among those currently operating

hydroelectric power plants in the world. Let's take a closer look at it.

1. Evening illumination at SShHPP

Photos and text Vadim Makhorov

The Sayano-Shushenskaya hydroelectric power station is located near the village of Cheryomushki (near the city of Sayanogorsk) in the Republic of Khakassia.

SSHHPP is the first in the cascade of Yenisei hydroelectric power stations. The installed capacity of SSHHPP is 6400 MW,

average annual production - 22.8 billion kWh of electricity.

2. The pressure front of the Sayano-Shushenskaya HPP is formed by a concrete arch-gravity dam - unique in size

and the complexity of constructing a hydraulic structure.

3. The design of a high-pressure arch-gravity dam has no analogues in world and domestic practice.

The height of the structure is 245 m, the length along the crest is 1074.4 m, the width at the base is 105.7 m and at the crest - 25 m. In plan it has

view of a circular arch with a radius of 600 m with a central angle of 102 degrees. The SSHHPP dam is among the ten highest

dams of the world.

4. On the crest of the dam

5. The stability and strength of the dam under water pressure (about 30 million tons) is also ensured by its own weight

(by about 60%) and by transferring hydrostatic load to rocky shores (by 40%). The dam is embedded in rock

banks to a depth of 15 m. The dam is connected to the base in the riverbed by cutting to a solid rock to a depth of

6. Operational spillway of the SSHHPP.

The operational spillway is designed to discharge excess water inflow during floods and floods, which is not

can be passed through hydraulic units of a hydroelectric power station or accumulated in a reservoir. Maximum throughput

the operational spillway capacity at a normal retaining level (NPL - 539 m) is 11,700 m³/sec.

The spillway has 11 holes, which are buried 60 m from the FPU and 11 spillway channels, consisting of a closed

section and an open chute that run along the downstream edge of the dam. The spillways are equipped with main and

repair gates. Four-meter springboards complete the spillways, and the water speed when leaving them

reaches 55 m/s.

7. Reservoir of the SSHHPP

The hydroelectric dam forms a large Sayano-Shushenskoye reservoir for seasonal regulation with a total volume of 31.34 km³,

with a useful volume of 15.34 km³, a length of 320 km and an area of ​​621 km².

By order of the Government of the Russian Federation dated November 16, 2006, the Sayano-Shushenskoye reservoir was included in the list of 70

reservoirs that are strategic sources of drinking water, which will be located in exclusive

federal property. Their water resources are used to provide drinking and

domestic water supply of large territories of one or several constituent entities of the Russian Federation.

8. Coastal spillway

The construction of an additional coastal spillway at the Sayano-Shushenskaya HPP was dictated by the need

increasing the reliability and safety of the station's hydraulic structures. The construction allows for

additional flow throughput up to 4000 cubic meters/sec (the main flow throughput is carried out through

operational spillway and culverts of hydraulic units) and thereby reduce the load on

operational spillway of the station and ensure gentle operation in the water well. Coastal spillway

designed to pass extreme floods and floods of rare occurrence. In case of ordinary floods

The use of the coastal spillway is not expected.

10. In the photo you can see the location of the coastal spillway relative to the station itself

11. Turbine water pipelines of SSHHPP

Turbine conduit is a pressure pipeline that supplies water to the turbines of a hydroelectric power station. On

At the Sayano-Shushenskaya HPP, the water conduits are steel-reinforced concrete. Inner diameter 7.5 m; reinforced concrete thickness

cladding - 1.5 m.

13. Transformer site

14. Transformers

Power transformers of the Zaporozhye Transformer Plant increase the voltage of the 15.75 kV generator to

voltage 500 kV, at which electricity is transmitted to the power system from the distribution device. Total

transformers 15 pcs. These are 5 groups of 3 phases. Each group is designed for 2 hydraulic units (1-2, 3-4, 5-6, etc.)

Dimensions of each transformer: length - 8.66 m, width - 3.61 m, height - 5.05 m; weight - 235 tons.

15. Machine room

The hydroelectric power station building houses 10 hydraulic units, each with a capacity of 640 MW, with radial-axial turbines,

operating at a design head of 194 m (working pressure range - from 175 to 220 m). Rated frequency

rotation of the hydraulic turbine - 142.8 rpm, maximum water flow through the turbine - 358 m³/s, turbine efficiency in

the optimal zone is about 96%, the total mass of hydraulic turbine equipment is 1440 tons.

Manufacturer of turbines and generators - OJSC Power Machines. According to the test results,

carried out by the plant on already installed equipment, hydraulic units are capable of developing power

up to 720 MW, thus being the most powerful of the hydraulic units of Russian hydroelectric power stations.

16. Several hydraulic units are still under repair after the well-known accident. By 2014, Sayano-Shushenskaya HPP

will be fully equipped with completely new and modern equipment with improved performance

characteristics and meeting all reliability and safety requirements.

18. Installation area

20. We go down to a lower level. The photo shows a huge rotor rotating. Rotation speed 142.8 rpm.

21. Even lower. Turbine shaft.

The hydraulic unit consists of two independent parts: a hydraulic turbine and a hydraulic generator connected by a shaft. In the turbine shaft

we can see both. There is a turbine under your feet, a generator above your head, and a rotating shaft is visible in the center.

Directly under the iron floor there are servomotors that drive the guide vanes,

The Sayano-Shushenskaya hydroelectric power station is the largest power plant in Russia in terms of size and power. Thanks to the RusHydro company, I was able to visit this grandiose facility, it was in April 2014, at that time repair and restoration work was carried out at the station after a major accident in 2009. At the time of my visit, hydraulic units numbered 3 and 4 were under repair. Just imagine, the capacity of one hydraulic unit is 640 MW (there are 10 hydraulic units at the station in total), this is more than the capacity of the entire construction of which is currently ongoing in the Amur region.

SSHHPP is the upper stage of the Yenisei cascade of hydroelectric power stations. The unique arch-gravity dam of the station with a height of 242 m is the highest dam in Russia and one of the highest dams in the world. The name of the station comes from the names of the Sayan Mountains and the village of Shushenskoye, located not far from the station, widely known in the USSR as the place of exile of V.I. Lenin.

02. In order to get to the station, you must first fly to, then take a train to Abakan and then a two-hour journey to the village of Cheryomushki by car awaits you.

03. And here is the station itself, the picture was taken not far from the checkpoint. Pay attention to the scale; on the right side you can see the chapel and the tram that transports station employees from the village to their place of work and back for free.

04. I wrote about the Cheryomushinsky tram.

05. Our excursion began with lunch at the station. I would like to note that I had the opportunity to dine at many hydroelectric power stations in our country and it was very tasty everywhere!

06. Dining room.

07. First, I suggest taking a walk around the station itself, and then let’s see the views around. This is a photograph of the hall located near the main entrance. Traditionally, a map with all hydroelectric power stations in Russia is posted here, as well as information about the life of the station.

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I talked about how a hydroelectric power station works in a post about it. In short, water flowing from a reservoir through a dam activates hydraulic units, which in turn convert rotational energy into electricity. The current enters the step-up transformer and goes through the power line towards the substation, which is usually an outdoor switchgear, and from there the current is delivered to the consumer. The advantage of hydroelectric power plants over all other power plants is obvious - the low cost of generating electricity and the quick start-up of hydraulic units, which allows you to quickly regulate the level of electricity generation. We started the tour from the machine room, but at that time repairs to equipment damaged after the accident were ongoing, so now these are archival photographs, but this does not detract from their value.

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14. Workers near the rail for a semi-gantry crane, there are two of them and each can lift up to 500 tons, and if necessary, they can work together.

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18. The same hydraulic unit whose breakdown caused the accident, photo adagamov.info - http://drugoi.livejournal.com/3032285.html

“Due to the repeated occurrence of additional variable loads on the hydraulic unit associated with transitions through a non-recommended zone, fatigue damage to the hydraulic unit’s fastening points, including the turbine cover, formed and developed. The destruction of the studs caused by dynamic loads led to the breakdown of the turbine cover and depressurization of the water supply path of the hydraulic unit.” - this is the official version of what happened. In short and in simple terms, the hydraulic unit is attached to the shaft using studs, and at some point these studs began to collapse. Naturally, after this, the hydraulic unit was forced out of the shaft by the flow of water, flying out of there along with pieces of concrete, it broke through the roof and the turbine room began to flood. In this situation, it was necessary to urgently stop the flow of water from the dam and start an idle discharge in order to prevent the destruction of the structure. Several brave souls climbed to the upper ridge of the dam and manually closed the gates, which stopped the flow of water into the turbine hall. The station was left without electricity, but literally a couple of hours later a gantry crane was launched, which opened the gates of the spillway dam and the idle discharge began. Unfortunately, 75 people died during the disaster; it was one of the largest accidents in the history of hydropower.

19. Meet Iddar Maratovich Bagautdinov, one of those who was among the brave souls who managed to save the station from flooding!

The following is a quote from the blog anni_sanni - http://anni-sanni.com/?p=8627

At 8-13 there was an accident,” recalls Ildar Maratovich, “in about three minutes I jumped out of the gate. We drove for about 15 minutes, five kilometers there, it turns out, at half past eight we got to the ridge, and still had to break the gate. There were three construction workers there. They just came to work, stood confused, not knowing what to do. I dropped in to see them: Do you have a lantern? Eat! Crowbar? Eat! - Behind me. I organized everyone and moved on. So I organized everyone and moved on. We ran through 350 meters of the dark gallery - shining with a miner's lantern... "
According to Ildar Maratovich, almost everyone who helped prevent an even greater disaster at the SSHHPP remained and still works at the station. Moreover, having learned about the accident, previously retired engineers, installers and others returned to work. The fourth one was restored. the fifth and sixth units and after that they returned to retirement.

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“Of the 116 people recorded at the time of the accident in the turbine room, 75 people died. Several people were literally hanging on the railings under the operatives’ consoles - here, where the three hundred and thirty-seventh mark is,” the hero now shows us. “When we stopped the water, they ended up under the ceiling, but survived...”

21. Hero! It’s probably hard to look at and remember the events of days gone by...

This accident served as a lesson for the entire hydropower industry, not only in Russia, but also in the world. Now the same valves that were closed manually in the event of an accident operate automatically, and the hydraulic units themselves are now attached more reliably than before. Here is another good report on the restoration of a hydroelectric power station - http://russos.livejournal.com/799333.html

22. This is what the updated machine shop looks like now. Photo photografersha - http://fotografersha.livejournal.com/731706.html

23. And this is the central control point of the station, we didn’t get to it, so I’ll show you a photo ammo1 . Taken from here - http://ammo1.livejournal.com/676122.html

I recommend another interesting post - Dima chistoprudov visited the station some time after the accident and, as usual, filmed a cool report, mastrid - http://chistoprudov.livejournal.com/67048.html

24. We go to the technical rooms located in the lower part of the turbine hall. Here, as a rule, equipment is installed that is responsible for the operation of hydraulic units, and from here you can get directly into the generator shaft.

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27. The Sayano-Shushenskaya hydroelectric power station is famous not only for the fact that it has a unique dam of its kind, but also for the fact that it is very beautiful from the outside, but this can be seen even with the naked eye. This is the view from the observation deck.

28. Of course, we must definitely talk about the hydroelectric dam itself, because it is a unique structure of its kind!

29. The height of the structure is 245 m, the length along the crest is 1074.4 m, the width at the base is 105.7 m and at the crest - 25 m. The dam is delineated along the pressure face with a radius of 600 m.

30. The stability and strength of the dam under water pressure (about 30 billion tons) is ensured not only by the action of its own weight (60%), but also by the work of the upper arched belt with the transfer of load to the rocky shores (40%). The dam is cut into the rock of the left and right banks, respectively, to a depth of 15 m and 10 m. The dam is connected to the base in the channel by cutting into a solid rock to a depth of 5 m. This design of the dam made it possible to reduce the volume of concrete masonry compared to a gravity-type dam.

31. The dam was built over 7 years since 1968, using 9.1 million m³ of concrete. This would be enough to build a highway from Moscow to Vladivostok. The diameter of one water pipeline is 7.5 meters.

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33. From left to right - the turbine hall and the administrative building.

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35. We looked a little at the spillway.

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37. We are moving to the upper pool!

38. Gantry cranes. With their help, spillway gates are opened and closed.

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42. Pay attention to the dark and light stripes, this is the level the water rises to.

43. To extinguish the energy of the discharge flow, a water well was built; in the photo you can see it on the right side directly under the dam. It is quite large, its dimensions are comparable to a football field! The water speed at the spillway can reach up to 55 m/s.

44. The road towards the village of Cheryomushki, on the left side there is a reconstructed outdoor switchgear-500 kV.

45. The outdoor switchgear is located exactly between two hills, it looks very harmonious.

46. ​​This extension replaces the whole complex that is located behind its wall.

47. Separately, it is worth telling about the coastal spillway.

48. The coastal spillway is located on the right bank and is designed to pass floods of rare occurrence. Structurally, the spillway consists of a water intake structure, two free-flow tunnels, a five-stage drop and an outlet channel.

49. In other words, if nature suddenly goes crazy and the reservoir is overfilled, then the coastal spillway will help reduce the water level to the desired level.

50. The hydroelectric dam itself forms a large Sayano-Shushenskoye reservoir for seasonal regulation with a total volume of 31.34 km³, a useful volume of 15.34 km³, a length of 320 km and an area of ​​621 km².

51. The five-stage drop consists of five suppression wells 100 m wide and 55 to 167 m long, separated by spillway dams. The function of the difference is to dampen the energy of the flow - the maximum flow speeds at the entrance to the upper well reach 30 m/s, and at the junction with the river bed they decrease to 4-5 m/s.

Here are two very interesting photo reports, people visited the hydroelectric power station and saw the construction of the coastal spillway -

The Sayano-Shushenskaya hydroelectric power station named after P.S. Neporozhniy is located in the Sayan Canyon at the exit of the Yenisei into the Minusinsk Basin near the city of Sayanogorsk in the southeast of the Republic of Khakassia, Russia. The most powerful hydroelectric power station in Russia, its dam is one of the ten highest built dams in the world.

"Sayano-Shushenskaya HPP named after P. S. Neporozhniy" is a branch of JSC RusHydro. The director of the branch is Nikolai Ivanovich Nevolko.

Number of hydroelectric power stations in the branch: Sayano-Shushenskaya and Mainskaya.

Determination by the State Commission of the Karlovsky site for the construction of the Sayano-Shushenskaya HPP - July 1962.

Construction began in September 1968.

Completion of construction (main) - 1988.

The Sayano-Shushenskaya HPP is the most powerful power plant in Russia and the most powerful source of covering peak power surges in the Unified Energy System of Russia and Siberia.

Installed capacity is 6,721 MW.

Average annual production 24,500.0 million kWh.

Generation for the first half of 2009 12,502.5 million kWh.

Net output for the first half of 2009 was 12,437.6 million kWh.

The climate in the area of ​​the dam is sharply continental: the maximum temperature is plus 40°C, the minimum is minus 44°C.

The duration of the frost-free period is 128 days.
The location is a narrow valley with steep banks rising 800-900 meters above the water's edge, its width at the floodplain level is 360 meters, and at the dam crest level - 900 meters.

The section is composed of crystalline metamorphic fractured shales. The average long-term water flow at the site of the structures is 46.7 km3, the maximum flow rate is 24400 m3/s.

Structure of the Sayano-Shushenskaya HPP structures

The structures include a concrete arch-gravity dam 245 meters high, 1066 meters long, 110 meters wide at the base, and 25 meters wide at the crest.

The dam includes:

the left bank blind part with a length of 246.1 meters;

station part with a length of 331.8 meters;

a spillway part with 11 holes 5 meters wide, having a total length of 189.6 meters and designed to pass 13,600 m3/s of water;

the right-bank blind part is 298.5 meters long.

At the base of the dam, areal cementation and a cementation curtain to a depth of 100 meters were performed.

The hydroelectric power station structures include a hydroelectric power station building near the dam, which houses 10 radial-axial hydraulic units with a capacity of 640 MW each, operating at a design head of 194 meters. The distance between the axles of the units is 23.7 meters. 480 thousand cubic meters of concrete were laid into the hydroelectric power station building.
The structures include a coastal spillway under construction (since 2005). Its introduction will increase the reliability and safety of the power plant. Construction is scheduled to be completed in 2010.

The hydroelectric dam forms the large Sayano-Shushenskoye reservoir with a total volume of 31.34 cubic kilometers (useful volume - 15.34 cubic kilometers) and an area of ​​621 square kilometers.

During the creation of the reservoir, 35.6 thousand hectares of farmland were flooded and 2,717 buildings were moved.

In the area of ​​the reservoir there is the Sayano-Shushensky Biosphere Reserve.

The hydroelectric power station was named after the country's largest energy worker, a prominent scientist, Doctor of Technical Sciences Pyotr Stepanovich Neporozhny. He headed the Ministry of Energy and Electrification of the USSR (1962-1985), was the inspirer and organizer of a large program for the construction of hydroelectric power stations in the country. The museum of the construction of the Sayano-Shushenskaya hydroelectric power station contains his personal belongings, donated by the Neporozhny family.

The Sayano-Shushenskaya hydroelectric power station is a tourist attraction. The station has its own museum and observation deck, which at night offers a breathtaking view of the beautifully illuminated dam and the monument to the builders.

Mainsky hydroelectric complex

Below the Sayano-Shushenskaya HPP is its counter-regulator - the Mainskaya HPP with a capacity of 321 MW, which is organizationally part of the Sayano-Shushenskaya HPP. Its construction was carried out in 1979-1987. The composition of the Mainskaya HPP structures: hydroelectric power station, spillway dam, earth dams - left bank, channel and right bank, outdoor switchgear 220 kV. The length of its reservoir is 21.5 meters, width up to 0.5 meters, depth up to 13 meters.

History of creation

The Sayano-Shushenskaya HPP was designed by the Lenhydroproekt Institute. On November 4, 1961, the first team of prospectors from the institute led by P.V. Erashov. arrived in the mining village of Maina to inspect three competing sites for the construction of a hydroelectric power station. Surveyors, geologists, and hydrologists worked in cold and bad weather, 12 drilling rigs in three shifts “probed” the bottom of the Yenisei from the ice.

In July 1962, the expert commission chose the final option - the Karlovsky site. 20 kilometers downstream, it was planned to build a satellite of the Sayano-Shushenskaya - counter-regulating Mainskaya hydroelectric station.

Initially, four dam design options were considered: gravity, arch-gravity, arch and rockfill. At the technical design stage, the option of an arched buttress dam was considered.

The arch-gravity one was chosen as the one that most corresponds to the topographical and engineering-geological conditions of the site.

The creation of a dam of this type in the conditions of the wide section of the Yenisei and the harsh climate of Siberia had no analogues in the world. The design assignment was developed under the guidance of the chief engineer of the project G.A. Pretro. After his approval, Ya.B. was appointed head of the department and chief engineer of the projects. Margolin (1965). The development of the technical project that began under him was continued by L.K. Domansky (1968-72) and A.I. Efimenko (1972-91).

In 1967, the Komsomol Central Committee declared the construction of the Sayano-Shushenskaya hydroelectric power station an All-Union Komsomol shock construction project. On November 4, 1967, a symbolic slab was laid for the foundation of the first large-panel house, which laid the foundation for the city of Sayanogorsk. In the summer of 1979, student construction teams with a total number of 1,700 people took part in the construction of the hydroelectric power station, and Komsomol youth groups were formed during the construction.

More than 200 organizations were involved in the construction, the largest of which was KrasnoyarskGESstroy of the USSR Ministry of Energy.

The largest industrial associations of the USSR created the latest equipment specifically for the hydroelectric station: Leningrad Metal Plant (hydraulic turbines), Leningrad Electrical Engineering Association Elektrosila (hydrogen generators), and Zaporozhtransformator association (transformers). Turbine impellers were delivered by a waterway almost 10,000 kilometers long through the Arctic Ocean to the upper reaches of the Yenisei. Thanks to an original technical solution - the installation of temporary impellers on the first two turbines, capable of operating at intermediate water pressures - it became possible to begin operating the first stage of the station before the completion of construction and installation work.

The first cubic meter of concrete was laid in the main structures of the Sayano-Shushenskaya hydroelectric power station - October 17, 1970.

In April 1974, the "Twenty-Eight Treaty", or a joint commitment, was signed aimed at reducing construction time and improving the quality of work performed. The idea of ​​the agreement provided for the identification of reserve capabilities of all construction participants and the constant coordination of their actions. From the very beginning, the Coordination Council was headed by the director of Lenhydroproject, Yu.A. Grigoriev.

The construction of the Sayano-Shushenskaya hydroelectric power station was carried out in a phased manner.

Each of the ten turbines of the hydroelectric power station, equipped with an impeller made of cavitation-resistant stainless steel 6.77 meters in diameter and weighing 156 tons, is capable of developing a power of 650,000 kW with a design head of 194 meters. The first two generators of the Sayano-Shushenskaya HPP were put into operation with temporary hydraulic turbine impellers capable of operating at low pressures. This made it possible to generate electricity even with partial pressure, starting from 60 meters.

To ensure the launch of the first hydraulic unit on time, filling the reservoir was hastily started. Only the sanitary pass was dumped into the downstream. At the same time, there was no provision for releasing water from the reservoir in case of any unforeseen circumstances.

The turbine hall of the Sayano-Shushenskaya HPP (length 287.97 meters, width 36 meters) was built on the basis of a spatial cross-rod structure, which was first used in the practice of constructing hydroelectric power plants. It consists of unified metal elements of the Moscow Architectural Institute (MARKHI) system. The ceiling and walls of the hall serve to protect equipment and people from the external environment. The design did not take into account the loads associated with the action of hydraulic processes during the operation of spillways and units. Therefore, due to increased vibration, once every three years after each idle spillway, it is necessary to inspect thousands of structural units and measure the gaps in the connecting units.

Accidents and problems

The first unit was put into operation at the end of December 1978. Technological capabilities did not allow the required volume of concrete to be placed in the spillway dam, so it was not ready for a powerful flood and on May 23, 1979, the first unit and the hydroelectric power station building were flooded. Aerators built into the walls of the spillways were supposed to provide air supply to the flow at the point where it descends from the toe of the spillway into the water well. But instead of air being sucked into the aerator, water was pumped into it from the spillway.

In 1985, during a powerful flood, 80% of the bottom area of ​​the water well was destroyed. The fastening slabs (more than 2 meters thick), the concrete preparation underneath and the rocks below the base to a depth of 7 meters were completely destroyed. Anchors with a diameter of 50 mm were torn with characteristic traces of the onset of the metal’s yield point. Work was carried out to reconstruct the water well (1991).

In 1988, a flood led to the destruction of the repaired well. It was decided to operate the hydroelectric power station in a gentle mode at a lower level of the maximum water level - no more than 540 meters instead of the design 545.

One of the main problems of construction was the discovery of increasing seepage of the dam body. To avoid washout of concrete, an additional injection was carried out into the mass using the technology existing at that time, intersection joints were re-cemented, and cracks were cemented through ascending wells. But all efforts were not effective enough: filtration continued to increase. To eliminate the shortcoming, an agreement was reached between the Sayano-Shushenskaya hydroelectric station and the French company Soletanshbashi to use its technology (based on French resins) to suppress water filtration through concrete (1993). Experimental repair work was carried out, which turned out to be successful: filtration was practically suppressed.

On August 17, 2009, an accident occurred at the second hydraulic unit during repair work. Part of the turbine hall was destroyed, the hydraulic unit itself was destroyed, and the station was stopped. 71 people died, 4 were missing.

The Sayan and Khakass aluminum smelters were shut down, the load on the Krasnoyarsk aluminum smelter and the Kemerovo ferroalloy plant was reduced, and the load on the Novokuznetsk aluminum smelter was reduced.

The Sayano-Shushenskaya hydroelectric power station is the most powerful power plant in Russia and the 8th among currently operating hydroelectric power stations in the world. This is the most unique hydraulic structure in terms of size and complexity of construction. The station has the highest dam in Russia and one of the highest dams in the world, which blocks one of the great rivers of Russia, the Yenisei.

Geographical location of the station

The Sayano-Shushenskaya hydroelectric power station is located in the Sayan Mountains on the border with Khakassia, near Sayanogorsk. The border runs along the Yenisei River, on which the hydroelectric power station was built.

The name of the station comes from the proximity of the Sayan Mountains and the nearby village of Shushenskoye, the famous place of exile of V.I. Lenin.

Sayano-Shushenskaya HPP – All-Union Komsomol shock construction

The Sayanskaya hydroelectric power station was built by young people. Student construction teams totaling more than 3 thousand people arrived from all over the country. 70 Komsomol youth groups were formed, selflessly building hydroelectric power stations.

From the history of construction

The construction of the Sayano-Shushenskaya hydroelectric power station took a long time (1963-2000) with the gradual development of its capacities. The preparatory stage began in 1963 with the arrangement of roads, housing, and infrastructure for builders.

The full-flowing Yenisei was blocked October 11, 1975. And in 1978 the first unit was put on an industrial basis.

Simultaneously with construction, it was necessary to urgently solve emerging problems: the destruction of water collection structures, the formation of cracks in the dam. All this made its own unpleasant adjustments to the process of developing the station’s capacity.

Uniqueness of the hydroelectric power station

The pressure front of the Sayano-Shushenskaya HPP is formed by a unique concrete arch-gravity dam.

The design of a high-pressure dam has no analogues in world and domestic practice. The height of the structure is 242 meters, length is 1074.4 meters.

The height of the dam 4 times higher than a 20-story building. 9.1 million cubic meters of concrete were spent on its construction. This would be enough to build a highway from Moscow to Vladivostok.

Dam stability and strength

Stability and strength are ensured by the action of its own weight and the emphasis of the arched part on the banks. The dam is cut into the rocks of the left and right banks to a depth of 15 and 10 meters, respectively, and into the base rocks - to a depth of 5 meters.

More than 11,000 different sensors are installed in the body of the dam, monitoring the condition of the structure.

There have been speculations in the media about the unreliability of the dam. But authoritative experts in the field of hydraulic engineering have repeatedly stated that the station’s structures are safe. Currently the hydroelectric power station has current safety declaration.

Dam construction

The Sayano-Shushinskaya HPP dam is not a monolithic structure. It consists of columns, 67 rows along and 4 rows across the dam.

The columns are connected to each other by special temperature-shrinkable seams. Too large temperature changes “inspired” the designers to increase the safety margin of the dam.

Interestingly, the structure is built in such a way that it does not even notice earthquakes up to magnitude 8.

The reservoir and the coastal catchment are satellites of the dam

The hydroelectric dam forms a large reservoir that collects water from a vast mountainous area.

During the creation of the reservoir, 35.6 thousand hectares of farmland were flooded, 2,717 buildings were moved to a new location, and the city of Shagonar was completely moved.
The water in the storage facility is very clean. Due to its highest quality, a trout fish farm has been established here.

The Sayano-Shushenskoye Reservoir is included in the list of 70 reservoirs, strategic sources of drinking water, which will be exclusively federal property.

Located in the area of ​​the reservoir Sayano-Shushensky Biosphere Reserve. The catchment is designed to discharge water during floods and floods. Its throughput capacity is 13,600 cubic meters of water per second. For comparison, these are five 50-meter pools with 10 swimming lanes.

Condition of the hydroelectric power station during the accident

On August 17, 2009, the largest accident in Russian history took place at the station. hydropower accident.

Under the strong pressure of water on unit No. 2, the turbine cover was torn off. The rotor of the machine, weighing 900 tons, rose and, rotating, began to destroy the turbine hall. It was possible to stop the units and reset the emergency valves manually thanks to the efforts of eight station workers.

All 10 hydraulic units were damaged. The accident claimed lives 75 people. The restoration of the station was completed on November 12, 2014.

SShGES named after. P.S. Neporozhniy is a high-pressure hydroelectric power station of the dam type, the most powerful power station in Russia. The main facilities of the station are located in the Karlovo section, at this point the Yenisei flows in a deeply incised canyon-like valley. It is quite difficult to convey the scale of this gigantic structure using photographs. For example, the length of the dam crest is more than one kilometer, and the height is 245 meters, higher than the main building of Moscow State University.

1. The pressure front of the Sayano-Shushenskaya HPP is formed by a unique concrete arch-gravity dam, which is the tallest dam of this type in the world. If you climb one of the slopes of the gorge, you will see a beautiful view of the dam itself, the lower pool and the Sayano-Shushenskoye reservoir, with a total volume of 31 km³.

3. About eleven thousand different sensors are installed in the body of the dam, monitoring the condition of the entire structure and its elements.



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4. Construction of the dam began in 1968 and lasted seven years. The amount of concrete laid in the dam - 9.1 million m³ - would be enough to build a highway from St. Petersburg to Vladivostok.

5. The diameter of such a “pipe” of the turbine water conduit is 7.5 meters.

6. Top view of the machine room and the administrative building of the station.

7. A few words about the principle of operation of the dam. Any dam, other than storage, must allow a certain amount of water to pass through. Each of the ten hydraulic units of the SSHHPP can pass 350 m³ of water per second. Currently, 4 out of 10 hydraulic units are in operation, and in winter their throughput is quite sufficient.
The white platform is a water well for the operational spillway; this site could easily accommodate a football field for the World Cup, although it would be “football on ice.”

8. During floods and floods, the gates of the operational spillway are opened. It is designed to discharge excess water inflow, which cannot be passed through hydraulic units of a hydroelectric power station or accumulated in a reservoir. The maximum design capacity of the operational spillway is 13,600 m³ (that's five 50-meter swimming pools with 10 lanes) per second! A gentle regime for a water well located under an operational spillway is considered to be a flow rate of 7000 - 7500 m³.

9. The length of the dam crest, taking into account the coastal incisions, is 1074 meters, the width at the base is 105 meters, at the crest - 25. The dam is cut into the rocks of the banks to a depth of 10-15 meters.
Stability and strength are ensured by the action of the dam’s own weight (by 60%) and partially by the thrust of the upper arched part into the banks (by 40%).



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11. Coastal fortifications.

12. From the dam you can see the village of Cheryomushki, which is connected to the hydroelectric power station by a highway and an unusual tram line.
In 1991, several city trams were purchased in Leningrad and converted into two-cabin ones for the railway track without turning rings, left over from the construction of the hydroelectric station. Now free trams run from the village to the hydroelectric power station every hour. Thus, the transport problem for station workers and residents of Cheryomushki was solved, and the only tram line in Khakassia became a landmark of the village.

13. View of the Sayano-Shushenskoye Reservoir from the entrance portal of the coastal spillway.



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14. The coastal spillway consists of an inlet head, two free-flow tunnels, an outlet portal, a five-stage drop and an outlet channel.



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16. Despite the frosts, the ice on the reservoir appears quite late - usually at the end of January.

19. The coastal spillway during periods of large floods will allow for additional discharge of up to 4000 m³/s and, thereby, reduce the load on the station’s operational spillway and ensure a gentle regime in the water well. The entrance head serves to organize a smooth entry of water flow into two free-flow tunnels.

20. In winter, the portals are covered with heat-protective shields.

21. The length of the two tunnels is 1122 meters, with a cross-section of 10x12 meters each, which is enough to accommodate 4 metro tunnels.

23. Exit portal. The estimated speed of water movement at the tunnel exit is 22 m/s.

24. The five-stage drop consists of five quenching wells 100 m wide and 55 to 167 m long, separated by spillway dams. The difference will ensure the damping of the energy of the flow and a calm connection with the river bed. Maximum flow velocities at the entrance to the upper well reach 30 m/s; at the junction with the river bed they decrease to 4–5 m/s.
Three-dimensional video about the launch of the first line of the coastal spillway.



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25. To give you a better idea of ​​the scale, this is an earlier photograph of the construction of the lower well. Author helio .

27. To open the gates, two gantry cranes are installed on the crest of the dam.

28. Yenisei is one of the largest rivers in Russia. The area of ​​its basin, which provides inflow to the hydroelectric station site, is about 180 thousand km², which is three times the size of the Republic of Khakassia.

29. Yenisei - the border between Western and Eastern Siberia. The left bank of the Yenisei ends the great West Siberian plains, and the right bank represents the kingdom of mountain taiga. From the Sayan Mountains to the Arctic Ocean, the Yenisei passes through all the climatic zones of Siberia. Camels live in its upper reaches, and polar bears live in its lower reaches.

30. The work of shamans...

32. Thanks to photographer Valery from the press service of the SSHHPP, who took me to this slope. The view is excellent. True, it was not easy to walk knee-deep in snow, and in some places waist-deep.