The Dnieper Hydroelectric Station ( uk, ДніпроГЕС, DniproHES; russian: ДнепроГЭС, DneproGES), also known as Dneprostroi Dam, in the city of
Zaporizhzhia
Zaporizhzhia ( uk, Запоріжжя) or Zaporozhye (russian: Запорожье) is a city in southeast Ukraine, situated on the banks of the Dnieper, Dnieper River. It is the Capital city, administrative centre of Zaporizhzhia Oblast. Zapor ...
,
Ukraine
Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...
, is the largest
hydroelectric power station
Hydroelectricity, or hydroelectric power, is electricity generated from hydropower (water power). Hydropower supplies one sixth of the world's electricity, almost 4500 TWh in 2020, which is more than all other renewable sources combined and ...
on the
Dnieper
}
The Dnieper () or Dnipro (); , ; . is one of the major transboundary rivers of Europe, rising in the Valdai Hills near Smolensk, Russia, before flowing through Belarus and Ukraine to the Black Sea. It is the longest river of Ukraine and B ...
river. It is the fifth step of the Dnieper cascade of hydroelectric stations that provides electric power for the Donets–Kryvyi Rih Industrial region. The
Dnieper Reservoir
The Dnieper Reservoir ( uk, Дніпровське водосховище, ) is a water reservoir on the Dnieper river in Ukraine that was created by construction of the Dnieper Hydroelectric Station at Zaporizhzhia in 1932. The filling of the re ...
stretches 129 km upstream to near
Dnipro
Dnipro, previously called Dnipropetrovsk from 1926 until May 2016, is Ukraine's fourth-largest city, with about one million inhabitants. It is located in the eastern part of Ukraine, southeast of the Ukrainian capital Kyiv on the Dnieper Rive ...
city.
The station was built by the
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...
in two stages. DniproHES-1 was first built in 1927–1932, but destroyed during
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
to make it harder for the advancing German forces to cross the river, then rebuilt in 1944–1950. DniproHES-2 was built in 1969–1980 and modernized during the 2000s.
The dam is an important crossing of the Dnieper. It has a
water lock that allows navigation along the river and around the dam. A highway connecting the banks of the Dnieper crosses a bridge over the lock.
Construction
Early plans
In the lower reaches of the Dnieper River, there was an almost -long-stretch that was filled with the
Dnieper Rapids
The Dnieper Rapids ( uk, Дніпрові пороги, ) are the historical rapids on the Dnieper river in Ukraine, composed of outcrops of granites, gneisses and other types of bedrock of the Ukrainian Shield. The rapids began below the present ...
. This is approximately the distance between the modern cities
Dnipro
Dnipro, previously called Dnipropetrovsk from 1926 until May 2016, is Ukraine's fourth-largest city, with about one million inhabitants. It is located in the eastern part of Ukraine, southeast of the Ukrainian capital Kyiv on the Dnieper Rive ...
and
Zaporizhzhia
Zaporizhzhia ( uk, Запоріжжя) or Zaporozhye (russian: Запорожье) is a city in southeast Ukraine, situated on the banks of the Dnieper, Dnieper River. It is the Capital city, administrative centre of Zaporizhzhia Oblast. Zapor ...
. During the 19th century, engineers worked on the projects to make the river navigable. Projects for flooding the rapids were proposed by in 1893, V. Timonov
( RU) in 1894, S. Maximov and
Genrikh Graftio
Genrikh Osipovich Graftio (russian: Генрих Осипович Графтио, 26 December 1869 in Dünaburg – 30 April 1949 in Leningrad) was a Russian/Soviet engineer credited as a pioneer of the hydroelectric station construction, as on ...
in 1905, A. Rundo and D. Yuskevich in 1910, I. Rozov and L. Yurgevich in 1912, Mohylko.
While the main objective of these projects was to improve navigation,
hydroelectric power
Hydroelectricity, or hydroelectric power, is electricity generated from hydropower (water power). Hydropower supplies one sixth of the world's electricity, almost 4500 TWh in 2020, which is more than all other renewable sources combined and ...
generation was developed concurrently, in terms of the "utilization of the freely flowing water".
G. Graftio's
( RU) 1905 project included three dams with a small area of flooding.
GOELRO plan and construction, 1921–1941
The Dneprostroi Dam was built on vacated land in the countryside to stimulate
Soviet industrialization
Industrialisation in the Soviet Union was a process of accelerated building-up of the industrial potential of the Soviet Union to reduce the economy's lag behind the developed capitalist states, which was carried out from May 1929 to June 1941.
...
. A special company was formed called Dniprobud or Dneprostroi (hence the dam's alternative name) that later built other dams on the
Dnieper
}
The Dnieper () or Dnipro (); , ; . is one of the major transboundary rivers of Europe, rising in the Valdai Hills near Smolensk, Russia, before flowing through Belarus and Ukraine to the Black Sea. It is the longest river of Ukraine and B ...
and exists to this day. The design for the dam that was accepted dates back to the
USSR
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nationa ...
GOELRO
GOELRO (russian: link=no, ГОЭЛРО) was the first Soviet plan for national economic recovery and development. It became the prototype for subsequent Five-Year Plans drafted by Gosplan. GOELRO is the transliteration of the Russian abbreviation ...
electrification
Electrification is the process of powering by electricity and, in many contexts, the introduction of such power by changing over from an earlier power source.
The broad meaning of the term, such as in the history of technology, economic histor ...
plan which was adopted in early 1920s. The station was designed by a group of engineers headed by Prof.
Ivan Alexandrov
Ivan Gavrilovich Alexandrov (1875–1936) was a Russian/Soviet engineer who played a significant role in the modernization of the Soviet Union.
Early life
Alexandrov participated in developing the GOELRO plan, and was responsible for the Dnieper ...
, a chief expert of GOELRO, who later became a head of the
RSFSR State Planning Commission. The station was planned to provide electricity for several
aluminum
Aluminium (aluminum in American and Canadian English) is a chemical element with the symbol Al and atomic number 13. Aluminium has a density lower than those of other common metals, at approximately one third that of steel. It has ...
production plants and a high quality iron and steel plant that were also to be constructed in the area.
The DniproHES project used the experience gained from the construction of the
Sir Adam Beck Hydroelectric Power Stations
Sir Adam Beck Hydroelectric Generating Stations are two hydroelectric generating stations in Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada. Sir Adam Beck Generating Station I, Sir Adam Beck Generating Station II and the Sir Adam Beck Pump Generating Station are ...
at
Niagara Falls
Niagara Falls () is a group of three waterfalls at the southern end of Niagara Gorge, spanning the border between the province of Ontario in Canada and the state of New York in the United States. The largest of the three is Horseshoe Falls, ...
,
Ontario
Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...
, the
Hydroelectric Island Maligne,
Quebec
Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...
, and the
La Gabelle Generating Station on the
St. Maurice River.
![Stamp Soviet Union 1932 398](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d6/Stamp_Soviet_Union_1932_398.png)
On September 17, 1932, the Soviet government awarded six American engineers (including
Hugh Cooper, William V. Murphy, and G. Thompson, engineers of General Electric) with the
Order of the Red Banner of Labour
The Order of the Red Banner of Labour (russian: Орден Трудового Красного Знамени, translit=Orden Trudovogo Krasnogo Znameni) was an order of the Soviet Union established to honour great deeds and services to th ...
for "the outstanding work in the construction of DniproHES".
Soviet industrialization
Industrialisation in the Soviet Union was a process of accelerated building-up of the industrial potential of the Soviet Union to reduce the economy's lag behind the developed capitalist states, which was carried out from May 1929 to June 1941.
...
was accompanied by a wide propaganda effort.
Leon Trotsky
Lev Davidovich Bronstein. ( – 21 August 1940), better known as Leon Trotsky; uk, link= no, Лев Давидович Троцький; also transliterated ''Lyev'', ''Trotski'', ''Trotskij'', ''Trockij'' and ''Trotzky''. (), was a Russian ...
, by then out of power, campaigned for the idea within the ruling
Politburo
A politburo () or political bureau is the executive committee for communist parties. It is present in most former and existing communist states.
Names
The term "politburo" in English comes from the Russian ''Politbyuro'' (), itself a contraction ...
in early 1926. In a speech to the
Komsomol
The All-Union Leninist Young Communist League (russian: link=no, Всесоюзный ленинский коммунистический союз молодёжи (ВЛКСМ), ), usually known as Komsomol (; russian: Комсомол, links=n ...
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!
The dam and its buildings were designed by the
constructivist architects
Constructivism may refer to:
Art and architecture
* Constructivism (art), an early 20th-century artistic movement that extols art as a practice for social purposes
* Constructivist architecture, an architectural movement in Russia in the 1920s a ...
Viktor Vesnin
Viktor Aleksandrovich Vesnin (russian: Виктор Александрович Веснин; April 9, 1882 – September 17, 1950), was a Russian Empire and Soviet architect. His early works (1909–1915) follow the canon of Neoclassicist Revival; ...
and
Nikolai Kolli
Nikolai Dzhemsovich (Yakovlevich) Kolli (russian: Николай Джемсович (Яковлевич) Колли; – 3 December 1966) was a Soviet and Russian Modernist—Constructivist architecture, Constructivist architect, architectu ...
. Construction began in 1927, and the plant started to produce electricity in October 1932.
Generating about 560 MW, the station became the largest Soviet power plant at the time
and the third-largest in the world, following the
Hoover Dam
Hoover Dam is a concrete arch-gravity dam in the Black Canyon of the Colorado River, on the border between the U.S. states of Nevada and Arizona. It was constructed between 1931 and 1936 during the Great Depression and was dedicated on Se ...
, 705 MW, and the
Wilson Dam
Wilson Dam is a dam spanning the Tennessee River between Lauderdale County and Colbert County in the U.S. state of Alabama. Completed in 1924 by the United States Army Corps of Engineers, it impounds Wilson Lake, and is one of nine Tennessee Va ...
, 663 MW, in the United States.
American specialists under the direction of
Col. Hugh Cooper took part in the construction. The first five giant power generators were manufactured by the
General Electric Company
The General Electric Company (GEC) was a major British industrial conglomerate involved in consumer and defence electronics, communications, and engineering. The company was founded in 1886, was Britain's largest private employer with over 250 ...
. During the second
five-year plan, four more generators of similar power that were produced by
Elektrosila
Joint-stock company, OJSC Power Machines (transliteration, translit. Siloviye Mashiny abbreviated as Silmash, russian: ОАО «Силовы́е маши́ны») is a Russian energy systems machine-building company founded in 2000. It is headqua ...
in
Leningrad
Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...
were installed.
The Dneprostroi Dam was the largest dam in Europe at the time of its construction.
The industrial centres of
Zaporizhzhia
Zaporizhzhia ( uk, Запоріжжя) or Zaporozhye (russian: Запорожье) is a city in southeast Ukraine, situated on the banks of the Dnieper, Dnieper River. It is the Capital city, administrative centre of Zaporizhzhia Oblast. Zapor ...
,
Kryvy Rih
Kryvyi Rih ( uk, Криви́й Ріг , lit. "Curved Bend" or "Crooked Horn"), also known as Krivoy Rog (Russian: Кривой Рог) is the largest city in central Ukraine, the 7th most populous city in Ukraine and the 2nd largest by area. Kr ...
, and
Dnipro
Dnipro, previously called Dnipropetrovsk from 1926 until May 2016, is Ukraine's fourth-largest city, with about one million inhabitants. It is located in the eastern part of Ukraine, southeast of the Ukrainian capital Kyiv on the Dnieper Rive ...
grew from the power provided by the station, including such electricity-consuming industries as aluminium production, which was vitally important for
Soviet
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...
aviation
Aviation includes the activities surrounding mechanical flight and the aircraft industry. ''Aircraft'' includes fixed-wing and rotary-wing types, morphable wings, wing-less lifting bodies, as well as lighter-than-air craft such as hot air ...
.
World War II and post-war reconstruction
During
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
, the strategically important dam and plant was dynamited by retreating
Red Army
The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army (Russian: Рабо́че-крестья́нская Кра́сная армия),) often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic and, after ...
troops in 1941 after
Germany's invasion of the Soviet Union
Operation Barbarossa (german: link=no, Unternehmen Barbarossa; ) was the invasion of the Soviet Union by Nazi Germany and many of its Axis allies, starting on Sunday, 22 June 1941, during World War II, the Second World War. The operation, code ...
. American journalist
H. R. Knickerbocker wrote that year:
The flooding surge killed 20,000 to over 100,000 unsuspecting civilians, as well as Red Army officers who were crossing over the river. It was partially dynamited again by retreating
German
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany (of or related to)
**Germania (historical use)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law
**Ger ...
troops in 1943. In the end, the dam suffered extensive damage, and the powerhouse hall was nearly destroyed. Both were rebuilt between 1944 and 1949.
General Electric
General Electric Company (GE) is an American multinational conglomerate founded in 1892, and incorporated in New York state and headquartered in Boston. The company operated in sectors including healthcare, aviation, power, renewable energ ...
built the new generators for the dam. Their weight was more than 1,020.58 tonnes. The generators replaced those destroyed during World War II. Each of the new units is rated 90 MW, as compared to the 77.5 MW of the old generators built in 1931. With a frame diameter of 12.93 metres, units were shipped in 1946.
Power generation was restarted in 1950. In 1969–1980, the second powerhouse was built with a production capacity of 828 MW.
![GE DneprostroiDamGenerator](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1e/GE_DneprostroiDamGenerator.jpg)
Currently, the dam is over 800 meters long and 61 metres high. The dam elevates the river water up to 37 m, which floods the rapids above and makes the entire Dnieper navigable. Over its long history, the dam was hailed as one of the greatest achievements of Soviet industrialization programs.
Post-Soviet time
![DniproHES005](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c2/DniproHES005.JPG)
Today, the dam has been privatized and continues to power the adjacent industrial complexes. The pressure of the water leaving the dam is at 38.7 metres and the reservoir that is behind it is approximately 3.3 cubic kilometres. The dam is also used by traffic.
In the spring of 2016, all
communist
Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a s ...
symbols (including the sign that stated that the dam was named after
Vladimir Lenin
Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov. ( 1870 – 21 January 1924), better known as Vladimir Lenin,. was a Russian revolutionary, politician, and political theorist. He served as the first and founding head of government of Soviet Russia from 1917 to 19 ...
) were removed from the dam in order to comply with
decommunization laws.
[In Zaporizhzhia began to "dekomunize" DniproGES]
Radio Free Europe
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) is a United States government funded organization that broadcasts and reports news, information, and analysis to countries in Eastern Europe, Central Asia, Caucasus, and the Middle East where it says tha ...
(4 April 2016)
See also
*
Eighth All-Ukrainian Congress of Soviets
Eighth All-Ukrainian Congress of Soviets ( uk, Всеукраїнський з'їзд Рад) was a congress of Soviets (councils) of workers, peasants, Red-army-men deputies that took place in Kharkiv on January 17 - 20, 1924.
Composition
No dat ...
*
Hydroelectricity in Ukraine Hydroelectricity in Ukraine is quite developed branch of power engineering. State operating company is Ukrhydroenergo and Energoatom. Design of main power plants is carried out by .
General characteristics
In the energy sector of Ukraine, hydro ...
*
List of power stations in Ukraine
The following page lists power stations in Ukraine.
Nuclear
In service
Historic
Hydroelectric
Thermal
Solar
Wind
* - 200 MWp
* - 500 MWp
* - 67,5 MWp
* - 200 MWp
* - 565 MWp
* - 107,5 MWp
* - 25 MWp
* - 246 MWp
* ...
*
Zaporizhzhia Pylon Triple
The Zaporizhzhia Pylon Triple is a set of two triples of tall electricity pylons extending over the Dnieper river standing on a 27m rock in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine. They are used for the transport of electricity generated at the Dnieper Hydroelect ...
References
Further reading
"Комсомольская правда" об угрозах плотины Киевской ГЭС и водохранилища
"Аргументы и факты" о реальных угрозах дамбы Киевского водохранилища и ГЭС
"Известия" о проблематике плотины Киевского водохранилища и ГЭС
External links
*
//
Encyclopedia of Ukraine
The ''Encyclopedia of Ukraine'' ( uk, Енциклопедія українознавства, translit=Entsyklopediia ukrainoznavstva), published from 1984 to 2001, is a fundamental work of Ukrainian Studies.
Development
The work was creat ...
*
Information from site dedicated to 85th anniversary of GOERLO*
Official website of UkrhydroenergyDnieper Hydroelectric Power Station, photographs by Georges Dedoyard, 1932 Canadian Centre for Architecture
The Canadian Centre for Architecture (CCA; french: Centre Canadien d'Architecture) is a Architecture museum, museum of architecture and research centre in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It is located at 1920, rue Baile (1920, Baile Street), between r ...
digitized items
*
The explosion of the Dnieper Hydroelectric Power Station
{{Authority control
Dams in Ukraine
Hydroelectric power stations built in the Soviet Union
Hydroelectric power stations in Ukraine
Companies based in Zaporizhzhia
Buildings and structures in Zaporizhzhia
Constructivist architecture
Dams completed in 1932
State companies of Ukraine
Dams on the Dnieper
Tourist attractions in Zaporizhzhia