Chirkeyskaya HPP in the North Caucasus (27 photos)

Chirkeyskaya HPP – hydroelectric power station on the Sulak River in Dagestan. This is the largest hydroelectric power station in the North Caucasus and the highest arch dam in the Russian Federation, it is a stage of the Sulak HPP cascade. The Chirkeyskaya HPP is connected by a serpentine with the Miatlinskaya HPP through the Nadyr-Bek ridge, almost on top of which the town of hydropower engineers Dubki was built in the Soviet years. If you suddenly have to drive along this road, turn onto the dirt road leading to the – Literally a hundred meters from it there is a magnificent natural observation deck, from which you can see both the Miatlinskaya HPP and the Chirkeyskaya HPP and the dam of the Chiryurt HPPs.

Source: LJ/4044415

1. The Sulak River, the dam of the Miatlinskaya hydroelectric power station and its reservoir. In the distance one can see the village of Old Miatli, described in L.N. Tolstoy.

2. In the 80s of the twentieth century, just in the place where the repeater tower is now located, there was a unique wind range – a place for testing and studying wind power generators. The location was perfect as the wind never stops here. Here, among other things, wind turbines of the Tushino Machine-Building Plant were tested. In the 1990s, known to everyone for its vagueness, the wind farm was abandoned. Part of the wind turbines was taken away, the other part remained in the form of unnecessary majestic ruins.

3. The Chirkey hydroelectric power station was built in the narrow Chirkey gorge with a depth of more than 200 meters (the width of the gorge in the lower part is 15 meters, in the upper part it is 300 meters). The main source of food for the Sulak River – melt waters of high mountain snows and glaciers and rainfall. The construction conditions were very difficult due to the terrain. Work on the main structures of the station began in 1966 with the construction of a construction tunnel 728 meters long and 13 meters in cross section.

4. Dubki hydropower settlement and Chirkey reservoir. Before perestroika, Dubki, like any other Soviet "scientific" town, flourished – there were branches of the Dagestan Polytechnic Institute, the Kuibyshev Energy College, an educational construction plant, a semiconductor factory, a garment factory, 3 cinemas, 5 kindergartens, a large school.

5. To the right of the tower you can see the white mast of one of the wind turbines. The blades from it, torn and twisted by the wind, are lying next to it. Other ruined structures of the landfill are not identifiable even when close.

6. Here and below - archival photographs found on the Internet (unfortunately, their authorship is unknown to me). From left to right, top to bottom: (1) and (2) – 1965, development of the hydroelectric power station pit; (3) – concrete supply by cable crane; (4) – covering Sulak with a directed explosion; (5) – blasting to develop the pit and banks of the river; (6) – installation of pressure conduits of the station.

7. From left to right, top to bottom: (1) – concreting of slopes of an unstable array; (2, top) – the village of Chirkey, which went under flooding; (2, lower) – a rally of builders in honor of the beginning of the flooding of the reservoir; (3) – installation of the stator shaft of the hydraulic unit; (4) – the laboratory assistant takes samples of the concrete mix; (5) – 1974, the flooding of the village of Chirkey.

8. From left to right, top to bottom: (1) – construction of a drainage tunnel; (2) – 02/28/1970, solemn laying of the first cubic meter of concrete into the body of the dam; (3, large photo on the right) – the dam is ready; (4) – the engine room of the Chirkeyskaya HPP on the day the first unit was put into operation.

9. From left to right, top to bottom: (1) – penstocks built; (2) – final stage of dam construction; (3) – launch of the first hydraulic unit; (4) – launch of the first hydraulic unit; (5) – settlement of hydro-builders Dubki

10. The Chirkey hydroelectric power station was built in the narrow Chirkey gorge with a depth of more than 200 meters (the width of the gorge in the lower part is 15 meters, in the upper part it is 300 meters). The main source of food for the Sulak River – melt waters of high mountain snows and glaciers and rainfall. Construction conditionswere very difficult due to the terrain. Work on the main structures of the station began in 1966 with the construction of a tunnel 728 meters long and 13 meters in cross section. View of the dam, the reservoir and the station building from the observation deck on the right bank.

11. At the construction of the Chirkeyskaya HPP, for the first time in the USSR, the method of contour blasting with preliminary slitting (the so-called "smooth spalling") was widely used. The construction of the station was prevented by an earthquake of magnitude 8 in May 1970 – work was suspended for almost half a year, during which the slopes were cleared of debris after the earthquake. To fix unstable rock blocks on the left bank slope of the HPP building excavation, retaining walls were built in combination with prestressed metal anchors. 300 stressed anchors were installed in inclined wells up to 25 meters deep. A system of prestressed strands made of high-strength steel with a diameter of 56 mm is installed in the horizontal adits. The building of the hydroelectric power station and the transformer platform on its ceiling.

12. The main means of mechanization for supplying and laying concrete mixture into the blocks of the dam were three cable cranes with a lifting capacity of 25 tons and a span of 500 meters, working with cylindrical radio-controlled buckets with a capacity of 8 cubic meters. From concrete plants to cable cranes (distance 100 meters), the concrete mixture was delivered by BelAZ and KrAZ dump trucks. During the construction of the station, the process of placing and removing the formwork was also mechanized (a special manipulator based on the E-304 excavator), the process of leveling the concrete mixture (a special machine based on the tractor-crane TK-53), the process of removing the cement film from the horizontal concrete surface (self-propelled cleaning machine based on the DT-20 tractor), as well as other processes and works. Due to the high degree of mechanization of construction, the highest productivity at that time was achieved – 12 cubic meters of concrete for 1 man-day. The dam was put under pressure on August 13, 1974. The hydroelectric units were put into operation successively in 1974 (GA-1), 1975 (GA-2, GA-3), 1976 (GA-4). Chirkeyskaya HPP was put into commercial operation in 1981. Dam and fortifications of the rocky massif of the left bank.

13. The structures of the Chirkeyskaya HPP include: a high-rise arch dam, a HPP building, an operational spillway, an open switchgear (OSG) with a voltage of 330 kV. The height of the dam – 232.5 meters, ridge length – 338 meters. The central part of the dam – station. The water intake structure is an inclined reinforced concrete structure placed on the upper face of the dam. From its intake openings, 4 pressure turbine conduits with a diameter of 5.5 meters (plus 1.5 meters of reinforced concrete shell) originate. The building of the Chirkeyskaya HPP (unlike the Miatlinskaya HPP) is of the dam type and is located directly at the downstream face of the dam plug. In order to place the units with minimal tie-ins into the steep walls of the gorge, a project was carried out for pairing the units (2x2 in parallel with a common mounting platform in the middle). Transformers are located on the roof of the machine room. This original solution has no analogues in the practice of hydraulic engineering. Gate valve for penstocks of the operational part of the dam.

14. The Chirkey reservoir has an area of 42.4 square kilometers, its capacity is – 2.78 cubic kilometers. When creating the reservoir, the old village of Chirkey was flooded – it was moved to a new location.

15. Outdoor switchgear-330 kV and the control building of the hydroelectric complex are located on the right top of the gorge.

16. Among the outbuildings of the hydroelectric power station one can see massive concrete cubes – these are the foundations of cable cranes, with the help of which the station was built.

17. Access to the HPP building is carried out through a road tunnel with a length of more than 800 meters from the right bank.

18. Sulak after the downstream of the Chirkey hydroelectric power station.

19. The idle spillway is made in the form of a tunnel with an open drain tray inside the rock of the left bank. An inlet with a span of 22 meters is located 85 meters from the dam. A tunnel (width – 9 meters, height – 12 meters) with a length of 160meters. Then it goes into a slightly inclined part 350 meters long and only then – into an open 200-meter tray with a springboard and a side outlet-extinguisher. In view of the extreme failure of my own photograph, a photograph was used from the site of the United Dispatch Control of the Energy Systems of the South. In the photo - the entrance portal of the idle spillway.

20. Chirkeyskaya HPP from the lower observation deck. On the right, a massive spillway tray is perfectly visible.

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22. Transformer platform and left bank.

23. Concrete wall.

24. Transformer platform and right bank.

25. An unusual feeling when you stand next to such a colossus. Due to the fact that the dam is arched both in length and in profile, it hangs over you like a huge visor.

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27. Well, once again the view from the lower observation deck.