The Enguri Dam is a
hydroelectric
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 ...
dam
A dam is a barrier that stops or restricts the flow of surface water or underground streams. Reservoirs created by dams not only suppress floods but also provide water for activities such as irrigation, human consumption, industrial use ...
on the
Enguri River
The Enguri ( ka, ენგური, tr, xmf, ინგირი, ingiri, ab, Егры, ''Egry'' russian: Ингури, ''Inguri'') is a river in western Georgia. It is long, and has a drainage basin of .Tsalenjikha
Tsalenjikha ( ka, წალენჯიხა, also transliterated as Tsalendjikha and Tzalenjikha) is a town in Samegrelo-Zemo Svaneti region of western Georgia (country), Georgia with the population of 3,847 (2014). It is located on the river Cha ...
,
Georgia
Georgia most commonly refers to:
* Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia
* Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States
Georgia may also refer to:
Places
Historical states and entities
* Related to the ...
. Currently, it is the world's second highest concrete
arch dam
An arch dam is a concrete dam that is curved upstream in plan. The arch dam is designed so that the force of the water against it, known as hydrostatic pressure, presses against the arch, causing the arch to straighten slightly and strengthen ...
with a height of .
[
][
][
] It is located north of the town of
Jvari. It is part of the Enguri hydroelectric power station (HES) which is partially located in
Abkhazia
Abkhazia, ka, აფხაზეთი, tr, , xmf, აბჟუა, abzhua, or ( or ), officially the Republic of Abkhazia, is a partially recognised state in the South Caucasus, recognised by most countries as part of Georgia, which vi ...
.
History
Soviet First Secretary Nikita Khrushchev
Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev (– 11 September 1971) was the First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1953 to 1964 and chairman of the country's Council of Ministers from 1958 to 1964. During his rule, Khrushchev s ...
initially proposed a major dam and hydroelectric power scheme on the
Bzyb River
The Bzyb or Bzipi ( or ; ka, ბზიფი, Bzipi; ab, Бзыҧ, Bzyṗ; russian: Бзыбь, Bzybj) is one of the two largest rivers of Abkhazia, along with the Kodori, and the twelfth longest river in Georgia. The river valley has rich bio ...
as his favourite resort was located near the mouth of the river at
Pitsunda
Pitsunda ( ab, Пиҵунда, russian: Пицунда) or Bichvinta ( ka, ბიჭვინთა ) is a resort town in the Gagra District of Abkhazia/Georgia (country), Georgia. Founded by Greek colonists in the 5th century BC, Pitsunda became ...
. However, his experts informed him that a dam built on the Bzyb River would have had catastrophic effects in causing
beach erosion at Pitsunda, so in the end the dam was built on the Enguri River instead, where the impact upon the coastline was assessed to be considerably less pronounced.
Construction of the Enguri dam began in 1961. The dam became temporarily operational in 1978, and was completed in 1987. In 1994, the dam was inspected by engineers of
Hydro-Québec
Hydro-Québec is a public utility that manages the generation, transmission and distribution of electricity in the Canadian province of Quebec, as well as the export of power to portions of the Northeast United States.
It was established by the ...
, who found that the dam was "in a rare state of dilapidation".
[
] In 1999, the European Commission granted €9.4 million to Georgia for urgent repairs at the Enguri HES, including replacing the stoplog at the arch dam on the Georgian side and, refurbishing one of the five generators of the power station at the Abkhaz side.
[ In total, €116 million loans were granted by the ]EBRD
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) is an international financial institution founded in 1991. As a multilateral developmental investment bank, the EBRD uses investment as a tool to build market economies. Initially foc ...
, the European Union, the Japanese Government, KfW
The KfW, which together with its subsidiaries DEG, KfW IPEX-Bank and FuB forms the KfW Bankengruppe ("banking group"), is a German state-owned investment and development bank, based in Frankfurt. As of 2014, it is the world's largest national d ...
and Government of Georgia.[ In 2011 the European Investment Bank (EIB) loaned €20 million in order to complete the rehabilitation of the Enguri hydropower plant and to ensure safe water evacuation towards the Black Sea at the Vardnili hydropower cascade.
In the early 1980's, a series of radio relays were built to connect the Enguri Dam with the Hudoni Dam, which was under construction. The relays were in remote territory with no access to electricity, and thus were powered with a series of eight ]radioisotope thermoelectric generators
A radioisotope thermoelectric generator (RTG, RITEG), sometimes referred to as a radioisotope power system (RPS), is a type of nuclear battery that uses an array of thermocouples to convert the heat released by the decay of a suitable radioact ...
(RTGs). However, the Hudoni dam's construction was stopped as Georgian independence from 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 ...
drew near. The stations and their RTGs were abandoned and eventually dismantled. The RTG's became lost at this time. Two were rediscovered in 1998, leading to no injuries. Two more were found in 1999, and again led to no injuries or significant radiation exposure. Two more were rediscovered in 2001, which led to the Lia radiological accident
The Lia radiological accident began on December 2, 2001, with the discovery of two orphan radiation sources near the Enguri Dam in Tsalenjikha District in the country of Georgia. Three villagers from were unknowingly exposed. All three men wer ...
. The other two sources remain unaccounted for.
Technical features
The Enguri hydroelectric power station (HES) is a cascade of hydroelectric facilities including, in addition to the dam - diversion installation of the Enguri HES proper, the near-dam installation of the Perepad HES-1 and three similar channel installations of the Perepad HESs-2, -3, and -4 located on the tailrace emptying into the Black Sea. While the arch dam is located on the Georgian controlled territory in Upper Svanetia, the power station is located in the Gali District of region Abkhazia
Abkhazia, ka, აფხაზეთი, tr, , xmf, აბჟუა, abzhua, or ( or ), officially the Republic of Abkhazia, is a partially recognised state in the South Caucasus, recognised by most countries as part of Georgia, which vi ...
of Georgia
Georgia most commonly refers to:
* Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia
* Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States
Georgia may also refer to:
Places
Historical states and entities
* Related to the ...
.[
] Enguri HES has 20 turbines with a nominal capacity of 66 MW each, resulting in a total capacity of 1,320 MW. Its average annual capacity is 3.8 TWh, which is approximately 46% of the total electricity supply in Georgia as of 2007. According to the 1992 agreement Abkhazia gets 40% and the rest of Georgia gets 60%, however in the late 2010s the Abkhazian consumption increased significantly driven in part by bitcoin mining
The bitcoin network is a peer-to-peer payment network that operates on a cryptographic protocol. Users send and receive bitcoins, the units of currency, by broadcasting digitally-signed messages to the network using bitcoin cryptocurrency ...
.
The facility's arched dam, located at the town of Jvari, was inscribed in the list of cultural heritage of Georgia in 2015.
See also
* List of power stations in Georgia (country)
The following page lists the power stations in Georgia.
Thermal
Hydroelectric
Wind
References
See also
* Energy in Georgia (country)
* List of largest power stations in the world
* List of power stations in Asia
* Lis ...
* Energy in Georgia (country) Georgia had a total primary energy supply (TPES) of 4.793 Mtoe in 2016. Electricity consumption was 11.5 TWh in 2016. Electricity production was 11.6 TWh, of which 81% from hydroelectricity and 19% from natural gas.
Georgia works in close collabor ...
* Vardnili Hydroelectric Power Station
Vardnili Hydro Power Plant Cascade is a cascade of hydropower plants in the Gali Municipality of Georgia. Included in the Cascade of Enguri Hydropower Plants. It consists of four relatively smaller power plants (Vardnil HPP-I, Vardnil HPP-II, Va ...
, connected to the Enguri complex
References
Notes
{{supertall
Dams completed in 1987
Hydroelectric power stations in Abkhazia
Hydroelectric power stations in Georgia (country)
Hydroelectric power stations built in the Soviet Union
Dams in Georgia (country)
Arch dams