Chirkey hydroelectric power station- a hydroelectric station on the Sulak River near the village of Dubki in the Buinaksky region of Dagestan. It amazes with its scope and grandeur. The largest hydroelectric power station in the North Caucasus, it has the 2nd highest dam in Russia and the highest arch dam in the country. The majestic construction of a hydroelectric power station in the middle of multi-ton rocks is the pride of Russian builders. The perennial reservoir is a unique object of human engineering and beautiful natural landscapes.
Features of the Chirkey hydroelectric station
"Pearl of Dagestan" occupies 11th position in the ranking 25 of the most beautiful and tallest dams in the world. It is part of the Dagestan branch of PJSC RusHydro.
- Construction conditions are very difficult. This is due to the mountainous terrain of the area. The station was built in a narrow Chirkey gorge with a depth of 200 meters, width at the bottom 15, at the top 300 m.
- There are many unstable rock blocks on the steep sides of the gorge.
- The station was built in a seismically active area, in difficult geological conditions. Seismicity of the construction area is 9 points.
- Laying concrete and installation work performed using three cable cranes with a lifting capacity 25 tons and span 550 m.
- The channel of the Sulak River was blocked by collapsing a rock mass with an explosion.
- The dam has a double curvature; it is curved not only horizontally, but also vertically.
- The river flow is formed due to the melting of snow and glaciers and rainfall. In an arid climate and prolonged floods, the water level can vary within 40 m. This requires special operation of the station.
Composition of hydroelectric power plant structures
HPP includes:
- Arch dam.
- The dam building of the hydroelectric power station.
- Spillway.
- Dam.
The arched concrete dam, 232 m high and 338 m long, is arched towards the river flow. It consists of an arched part, a wedge-shaped plug 48 m high, 40 m wide and 88 m long at the base. It takes your breath away when you see this graceful arch, sandwiched in the narrow gorge of the Sulak River.
The design allows you to withstand the enormous pressure of the water mass. Thanks to arched double curvature design the dam is quite thin - 6 meters at the crest and 30 at the base.
The concrete body of the dam contains 9 tunnels in which sensors are installed to record activity within the earth’s crust. They monitor the condition of the structure.
An international commission headquartered in Austria in 2013 gave the most highly appreciated design of the station as seismologically safe.
Hydroelectric power station building
Dam-type hydroelectric power station building with a length of 60 and a width of 43.8 m. Features: double-row arrangement of hydraulic units with two-tier arrangement of suction pipes. This made it possible to halve the length of the building and minimize the cut into the rocky sides of the gorge.
The hydroelectric power station building has two parallel machine rooms with two units in each. They are serviced by two gantry cranes. The road leads to the turbine hall through an 800-meter tunnel on the right bank. Cattle are driven along the ridge of the dam to the summer pasture.
Hydroelectric power station reservoir
In front of the hydroelectric dam lies the largest artificial reservoir in Dagestan - the Chirkey Reservoir with an area of 42 square kilometers.
Reservoir long-term regulation, its capacity allows it to accumulate water in high-water years and spend it in low-water years. In winter, water flow is minimal, and the hydroelectric power station operates on reserves, releasing the reservoir.
Water from the mountains carries many impurities that settle to the bottom of the reservoir. The composition of the bottom soil gives its waters an unimaginably beautiful azure-turquoise color. The water is used to supply the cities of Makhachkala and Kaspiysk.
History of the construction of the Chirkey hydroelectric station
The station in the mountains was built by the whole world over 17 years (1963 -1980) at an accelerated pace, involving workers from all over the USSR. Large-scale survey work at the site of the Chirkey hydroelectric power station began in 1956, and the technical design of the station was approved only on December 14, 1967.
Stages and difficulties
On June 13, 1963 it was created construction department for the construction of hydroelectric power stations. The preparatory stage began with the construction of roads to the station construction site and power lines. At the same time, the construction of a permanent settlement for hydraulic workers, Dubki, began.
October 29, 1967 blocked the Sulak River using an innovative method of blasting along a contour with smooth rock spalling. A directed explosion with a total charge weight of 37 tons brought down more than 65 thousand cubic meters of rock.
A hydroelectric power station under construction was almost destroyed the strongest earthquake of 1970. Powerful shocks measuring 9.0 magnitude completely destroyed 22 settlements. The rock to which the edge of the dam was attached moved from its place. The hydraulic builders simply sewed it on steel cables to the rock slope.
A large collapse of the left bank slope blocked the foundation pit of the hydroelectric power station building. To eliminate the consequences of the earthquake, construction was stopped for six months.
Difficulties and successes of construction
The dam was built in a narrow gorge. This imposed its own characteristics when laying concrete. It was supplied to the body of the dam from above using three cable taps using cylindrical radio-controlled huge containers of 8 cubic meters.
Concrete was delivered from factories by specially equipped dump trucks. It is characteristic that exclusively all concrete work at the construction site was mechanized. This led to the rapid construction of the dam.
The birthday of the Chirkey hydroelectric power station is December 22, 1974, when the first hydraulic unit was launched. During 1975, the 2nd and 3rd units were put into operation, the last – the fourth – hydraulic unit was put into operation on June 30, 1976.
Officially construction of the Chirkey hydroelectric power station completed February 9, 1981 year with the signing of the act of acceptance of the hydroelectric complex for commercial operation. The cost of construction is 283 million rubles in 1970 prices.
Satellite village of Dubki
The village of Dubki was created for construction workers who arrived from all the republics of the former Soviet Union. Population 10 thousand people. Today, it has preserved all the infrastructure, there is a branch of a plant for the production of electronic goods, and a clothing factory.
Chirkeyskaya HPP is a hydroelectric power station on the Sulak River (15 km upstream from the Miatlinskaya HPP) in Dagestan. This is the largest hydroelectric power station in the North Caucasus and the highest arch dam in Russian Federation. Just like the Miatlinskaya hydroelectric power station, it is a stage of the Sulak cascade of hydroelectric power stations... The Miatlinskaya and Chirkey hydroelectric power stations are connected by a serpentine road through the Nadyr-Bek ridge, practically on the top of which the hydropower town of Dubki was built in the Soviet years. If you suddenly have to drive along this road, turn onto the dirt road leading to the repeater tower - literally a hundred meters from it there is a magnificent natural observation deck, from which you can see both the Miatlinskaya hydroelectric power station and the Chirkey hydroelectric power station and (if you know where to look + have good optics ) dam of the Chiryurt hydroelectric power station. The Sulak River, the Miatlinskaya hydroelectric power station dam and its reservoir. In the distance you can see the village of Old Miatli, described in “Prisoner of the Caucasus” by L. N. Tolstoy. 
Hydropower settlement Dubki 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 plant, garment factory, 3 cinemas, 5 kindergartens, a large school. In the 80s of the 20th century, right in the place where the repeater tower is now located, there was a unique wind test site - a place for testing and studying wind power generators. The location was ideal as the wind never stops here. Tushinsky wind generators were also tested here machine-building plant. In the famously troubled 90s, the wind site was abandoned. Some of the wind generators were taken away, the other part remained in the form of unnecessary majestic ruins. 
To the right of the tower you can see the white mast of one of the wind generators. Its blades, torn and twisted by the wind, lie next to it. Other ruined structures of the landfill cannot be identified even when up close. 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 - 300 meters). The main source of nutrition for the Sulak River is meltwater from high-mountain snow and glaciers and rainfall. Construction conditions were very difficult due to the terrain. Work on the main structures of the station began in 1966 with the excavation of a construction tunnel with a length of 728 meters and a cross-section of 13 meters. 
Here and below are 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 a hydroelectric power station pit; (3) – supply of concrete by cable crane; (4) – covering Sulak with a directed explosion; (5) – blasting work to develop the pit and river banks; (6) – installation of station pressure water pipelines. During the construction of the Chirkey hydroelectric power station, for the first time in the USSR, the method of contour blasting with preliminary crevice formation (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 six months, during which the slopes were cleared of debris after the earthquake. To secure unstable rock blocks on the left bank slope of the pit of the hydroelectric power station building, 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 ties made of high-strength steel with a diameter of 56 mm is installed in the horizontal adits. 
From left to right, top to bottom: (1) – concreting the slopes of an unstable massif; (2, top) – Chirkey village, which was flooded; (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 mixture; (5) – 1974, flooding of the village of Chirkei. The main means of mechanization for supplying and laying concrete mixture into the dam blocks 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 (a distance of 100 meters), the concrete mixture was delivered by BelAZ and KrAZ dump trucks. During the construction of the station, the process of installing and removing 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 TK-53 tractor-crane), and the process of removing the cement film from the horizontal surface of concrete (self-propelled scraper machine based on the DT-20 tractor), as well as other processes and work. Thanks to the high degree of mechanization of construction, the highest productivity for that time was achieved - 12 cubic meters of concrete per 1 man-day. 
From left to right, top to bottom: (1) – construction of a drainage tunnel; (2) – 02/28/1970, ceremonial 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) – turbine room of the Chirkey hydroelectric power station on the day of commissioning of the first unit. The dam was pressurized on August 13, 1974. The hydraulic units were put into operation sequentially in 1974 (GA-1), 1975 (GA-2, GA-3), 1976 (GA-4). The Chirkey hydroelectric power station was put into commercial operation in 1981. 
From left to right, top to bottom: (1) – pressure water pipelines have been built; (2) – the final stage of dam construction; (3) – start-up of the first hydraulic unit; (4) – start-up of the first hydraulic unit; (5) – Dubki hydraulic construction village The structures of the Chirkey hydroelectric power station include: a high-rise arch dam, a hydroelectric power station building, an operational spillway, and an open switchgear with a voltage of 330 kV. The height of the dam is 232.5 meters, the length along the crest is 338 meters. The central part of the dam is the station part. The water intake structure is an inclined reinforced concrete structure placed on the upper edge of the dam. From its water intake holes originate 4 pressure turbine water pipelines with a diameter of 5.5 meters (plus 1.5 meters of reinforced concrete shell) 
View of the dam, reservoir and station building from the observation deck on the right bank. The top, front and profile diagrams of the Chirkeyskaya HPP were borrowed from the website of JSC RusHydro. The building of the Chirkey hydroelectric power station (unlike the Miatlinskaya hydroelectric power station) is of the dam type and is located directly at the downstream edge of the dam plug. In order to place the units with minimal insertions into the steep walls of the gorge, a design was carried out to arrange the units in pairs (parallel 2x2 with a common installation site in the middle). Transformers are located on the roof of the turbine room. This original solution has no analogues in the practice of hydraulic construction. 
The hydroelectric power station building and the transformer site on its roof. 
Dam and fortifications of the rock mass of the left bank. 
Valve valves of pressure water pipelines of the operational part of the dam. 
The Chirkey reservoir has an area of 42.4 square kilometers, its capacity is 2.78 cubic kilometers. During the creation of the reservoir, the old village of Chirkey was flooded - it was moved to a new location. 
The 330 kV outdoor switchgear and the waterworks control building are located at the right top of the gorge. 
Among the outbuildings of the hydroelectric power station one can see massive concrete cubes - these are the foundations of the cable cranes with the help of which the station was built. 
Access to the hydroelectric power station building is through a road tunnel more than 800 meters long from the right bank. 
Sulak after the downstream of the Chirkey hydroelectric station. The idle spillway is made in the form of a tunnel with an open drainage tray inside the rock of the left bank. An inlet opening 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 160 meters runs from it at a large slope. Then it passes into a slightly inclined part 350 meters long and only then into an open 200-meter tray with a springboard and a side drain-extinguisher. In my opinion, this is an excellent water park. 
Due to the extreme failure of my own photograph, a photograph from the website of the United Dispatch Management of Power Systems of the South www.yug.so-ups.ru was used. The photo shows the entrance portal of the idle spillway. 
Chirkey hydroelectric power station from the lower observation deck. The massive spillway tray is clearly visible on the right. 
Transformer site and left bank. 
Concrete wall. 
Transformer site and right bank. 
It’s 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 canopy. 
Well, once again the view from the lower observation deck.
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The Chirkey hydroelectric power station is located on the Sulak River in the Republic of Dagestan. This is the largest hydroelectric power station in the North Caucasus and the highest arch dam in Russia. It was built in a narrow Chirkey gorge with a depth of more than 200 m, a width of 12-15 m at the bottom, and 300 m at the top. It is part of the Sulak cascade of hydroelectric power stations. The installed capacity of the hydroelectric power station is 1000 MW. Average annual production is 2.47 billion kWh.
General view.
The Chirkey hydroelectric power station was built in a seismically active area, in difficult geological conditions. Concrete laying and installation work was carried out using three cable cranes with a lifting capacity of 25 tons and a span of 550 m.
Construction began in 1964. Blocking the river bed Sulak was carried out by collapsing a rock mass with an explosion. As a result of the explosion, more than 65 thousand m3 of rock collapsed. The total weight of the charge was 37 tons.
In 1974 the first hydraulic unit was put into operation. The last fourth unit was put into operation in 1976. During the construction of a hydroelectric power station, cable cranes were used for the first time to lay concrete into the body of the dam.
The dam has a maximum height of 232.5 m and a length along the crest axis of 338 m.
An arch of biconvex curvature of symmetrical outline, elastically embedded along the contour into the base.
The thickness of the arch dam varies from 6 m at the crest to 30 m at the contact with the plug.
The Chirkey hydroelectric power station is the largest of the three hydroelectric power stations with arch dams available in Russia.
The Chirkeyskaya HPP, taking into account its maneuverability, has become the main regulating station in the United Energy System of the South of Russia.
Open switchgear (OSD) with a voltage of 330 kV.
Herds of sheep are driven along the ridge of the dam to summer pastures.
The reservoir of the Chirkei hydroelectric power station with long-term regulation has a length of 40 km, maximum width- 5 km.
From the water intake openings of the ChHPP dam, 4 metal pressure turbine water pipelines with a diameter of 5.5 m originate.
The reinforced concrete shell of the water pipelines is 1.5 m thick.
The hydroelectric power station building is located directly at the downstream edge of the dam plug.
Transformers and generator voltage distribution devices are located on the ceiling of the machine room.
An original technical solution, which has no analogues in the practice of hydraulic construction, is the double-row arrangement of hydraulic units and suction pipes. This was done so that the hydroelectric power station building would crash into the steep sides of the gorge as little as possible.
There are 2 parallel machine rooms in the hydroelectric power station building, and the machine rooms are combined in such a way that during installation it is possible to use a common installation site. The transfer of the generator rotor weighing about 560 tons is carried out by two cranes with a lifting capacity of 320 tons, connected by a common crossbeam.
4 radial-axial hydraulic units with a capacity of 250 MW each, operating at a design head of 170 m.
Manufacturer of hydroelectric power station generators - "Uralelektrotyazhmash"
During the press tour there was a planned major renovation 4th hydraulic unit and thanks to this we managed to get into the drained spiral chamber of the hydraulic turbine. The spiral chamber ensures a uniform flow of water along the entire perimeter of the guide vane, i.e., axisymmetric operation of all guide vanes. The water passing here has a pressure of 17 atmospheres.
On at the moment The repair is completed and the hydraulic unit is put into operation.
The diameter of the turbine impeller is 4.5 m, weight – 55 tons.
Control room
Access to the hydroelectric power station building is through an 800 m long tunnel along the right bank road.
Gallery
Crane on the crest of the dam.
The idle spillway is made in the form of a tunnel with an open drainage tray inside the rock of the left bank. An inlet opening with a span of 22 meters is located 85 meters from the dam.
A tunnel (12x9 meters) 160 meters long runs from it at a large inclination. Then it passes into a slightly inclined part 350 meters long, and then into an open 221-meter chute with a springboard and a side drain-extinguisher.
Segment gate 14m high.
The operational spillway is capable of providing water passage with a volume of 2400 to 2900 cubic meters. m.
The climate of the Chirkey hydroelectric station site area is arid. In the entire history of operation of the Chirkey hydroelectric power station, water was discharged empty only three times.
Technical corridors in the dam body
Geodetic mark
It was especially lucky to photograph the Chirkey hydroelectric station at night.
The Chirkey hydroelectric power station is a high-pressure dam hydroelectric power station located on the Sulak River near the village of Dubki (Buinaksky district of the Republic of Dagestan). The station is the most powerful hydroelectric power station in the North Caucasus, while its dam is the second highest in Russia, as well as the highest arch-type dam in the country.
The Chirkey hydroelectric power station is the uppermost step of the Sulak cascade of hydroelectric power stations, and is also part of the Dagestan branch of the Russian energy company RusHydro OJSC (since January 9, 2008).
The Chirkey hydroelectric power station consists of an arch dam, a hydroelectric power station building near the dam, an operational spillway and the Tishiklinskaya dam.
The hydroelectric dam was the first doubly convex concrete arch dam in the country, the height of which is 232.5 meters, the thickness at the crest is 6 m, and at the base it is 30 m.
The main purpose of the Tishiklinskaya dam, which is located 10 km above the dam, is to protect the Shuraozen River valley from flooding. The length of the dam is 1.3 km, the maximum height is 12 m, the width along the crest is 5 m (at the base – 68 m). Loam was used during its construction.
The building of the hydroelectric power station contains 4 vertical hydraulic units with radial-axial turbines RO 230/9896-V-450 (electric power 250 MW) and hydrogenerators VGSF 930/233-30. The working pressure of the turbines is 156-207 meters, and the design pressure is 170 m (water flow through each turbine is 168 m³/s). The turbine impellers have a diameter of 4.5 m.
The pressure structures of the Chirkey hydroelectric power station formed the Chirkey reservoir, the area of which is 42.5 km².
The installed capacity of the hydroelectric power station is 1000 MW, and the average annual electricity generation is 2470 million kWh (at the end of 2012, the station produced 1736 million kWh).
From hydrogenerators, electricity at a voltage of 15.75 kV is transmitted to TC-400000/330 transformers installed on the roof of the hydroelectric power station building, from which it is supplied via overhead lines to a 330 kV outdoor switchgear. Next, the electricity from the hydroelectric power station is supplied to the energy system via 2 330 kV power lines.
Work on the construction of the Chirkey hydroelectric power station began immediately after the signing of Order No. 84 by the Ministry of Energy and Electrification of the USSR (dated June 11, 1963).
The Sulak River was closed on October 29, 1967, while hydraulic unit No. 1 was put into permanent operation on December 22, 1974. The launch of hydraulic units No. 2 and 3 took place on September 28 and December 30, 1975, respectively. The fourth unit was connected to the network on June 30, 1976.
Officially, the Chirkey hydroelectric power station was accepted for commercial operation on February 9, 1981 after the acceptance committee signed the relevant act.
By 2015, work on replacing one of the hydroelectric generators with a prototype of an asynchronized HPP/PSP generator with variable speed should be completed at the Chirkey hydroelectric power station.
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