Chirkey hydroelectric power station It amazes you every time you step on it. It is precisely what “takes your breath away” when you see this graceful arch more than 200 meters high, sandwiched in a narrow gorge of the Sulak River in Dagestan.
I’ve already visited this station and, to be honest, I didn’t plan to make a new one, but on one of my trips I ended up at the Chirkey hydroelectric station again and even managed to visit places I had never been before. And learn something new. Thanks to our friends from RusHydro!
1. Majestic view of the Chirkey reservoir.
.::clickable::.
2. One of the features of the station is that the water level can vary widely - by about 40 meters.
3. Treacherous and almost quicksand. We almost left one car at the bottom.
4. The peculiarity of mountain hydroelectric power stations is that in winter the water flow is minimal and the station operates on accumulated reserves, triggering the reservoir. The flood begins at the end of March and ends only by August. The river flow is formed due to the melting of snow and glaciers, as well as rainfall, and the peak occurs in May-June.
5. You can see how much the water has gone, exposing the bottom of the reservoir. By the way, the Sulak River carries large number sediment - 21.4 million tons per year.
6. First we went to the village of Dubki, which used to be a village of hydroelectric power station builders. Now it is a very poor village. Our guide first suggested going to see the canyon, which is visible from the village. We were skeptical about this, how the hell could there be a canyon in the village?! But it was impolite to refuse.
7. “Fuck your mother!” - the only thing that burst out from us in unison when, having passed the garages and the landfill, we came out to the canyon. With a friendly click, the jaws dropped to a depth of a kilometer or so. The view was mesmerizing, to say the least.
.::clickable::.
8. This is one of the deepest canyons in the world. Its length is 53 kilometers, its depth reaches 1920 meters. This is 120 meters deeper than the famous Grand Canyon. In depth it is second only to the Kotausi Canyon. And to see this, just go to the village of Dubki in Dagestan. And it’s nearby, just go past the garages and the landfill.
.::clickable::.
9. There is even an unusual view of the river, which is a counter-regulator of the Chirkey hydroelectric station, smoothing out fluctuations in the river level. Sulak, arising due to uneven operation of hydroelectric power stations.
10. Having found our jaws at the bottom of the canyon, we went to another observation point, to the benchmark. There is a fantastic view of the dam.
11. Insanely beautiful view.
12. The concrete arch dam has a crest length of 338 m and greatest height 232.5 m is the second highest dam in Russia (after the dam of the Sayano-Shushenskaya hydroelectric station, which has not a purely arched, but an arched-gravity design).
13. The dam consists of an arched part, a wedge-shaped plug and a right-bank abutment. The arched part of the dam is double curvature, symmetrical in outline, 184.5 m high, thickness varies from 6 m at the crest to 30 m at the contact with the plug.
14. The base of the dam is a plug 48 m high, 40 m wide and 88 m long at the base, in the lower part of which there is a longitudinal cavity of elliptical shape with a length of 21 m and a span of 21 m.
15. The presence of this cavity intrigued me. It is marked on the cross section of the dam; all that remains is to understand whether it is possible to get there?
16. These two panoramas were processed in different times, that's why they are different. But both are good in their own way. Yes, that’s actually the color of the water there! Water from the mountains carries many impurities that settle to the bottom of the reservoir. And in the lower pool we can see water of the most delicate turquoise color.
17. Using a tripod and a fish eye, we try to take a view inside the arch.
18. Well, something like this. Here you can see that, indeed, the dam is of double curvature.
19. Or here’s a panorama from Dima.
20. On the right bank there is an outdoor switchgear.
21. During construction, a huge rock fall occurred on the left bank, which jeopardized the construction of the station in general in this section. We managed to pull down the mountain steel ropes from the inside. - from point 10.
.::clickable::.
22. Road tunnel portal. You need to drive along it to go down to the tailwater.
23. We are discussing the filming plan. Since the water level in the reservoir has dropped to almost a minimum level and is below the spillway threshold, it is guaranteed that there will be no water in it. Therefore, it can be entered.
24. We should go there. The photo shows an open spillway tray ending with a springboard with a side drain - damper; the open part of the spillway has a total length of 221 m.
25. An artificial wall 200 meters high. The height of the entire dam, as I already wrote, is 232.5 meters, but not all of it is pictured in the photo. Even taking into account the height of the traffic jam is almost 50 meters, there will be 180 meters here.
26. Open tray and people for scale.
27. The slightly inclined part of the spillway is 350 m long and 12.6 meters high. If you look closely, you can find the person in the photo.
28. An inclined section of a horseshoe-shaped tunnel with a length of 158 m, a width at the bottom of 9.2 m and a height of 12.6 m.
29. The speed of water, or rather, the water-air mixture in the underground tunnel reaches 55 meters per second.
30. The entire sloping area. At the top you can see a piece of the shutter.
31. The tunnel portal through which the river was passed during the construction period. It can be seen due to the low water level in the tailwater.
32. For the first time in my life I made a vertical panorama. Wrack your brain :)
33. They entered the computer room, but quickly. Last time they filmed everything here and even climbed into the spiral chamber. Let me remind you that due to the narrowness of the gorge, for the first time in the world, a double-row arrangement of hydraulic units was used here. Those. 4 GAs are arranged in pairs in two rows.
34. Turbine shaft.
35. A very familiar phone. I used to see these at the metro construction site and they were called shaft phones.
36. Due to the low water level, we were able to see this structure, which is usually hidden from view.
37. It was assumed on site that this was a temporary spillway when one hydraulic unit was put into operation at a low water level.
38. View of the dam from the reservoir.
39. Naturally, it was impossible to miss the opportunity to not go down to the bottom of the reservoir and see that strange structure.
40. Beautiful metal texture.
41.Dima Chistoprudov chistoprudov
.
42. We even found a boat! Dima creates a 360 degree panorama.
43. We swam to the dam. Fantastic water color!
44. Dimon on the oars. Behind the scenes there was a cat who went on a boat trip with us. But there will be a separate report about it :)
45. Head of the existing spillway. As you can see, the water is very far from it.
46. Some kind of adit from the time of construction.
47. Devil's point or spillway head. Now the top view.
48. The task was to shoot a panorama right in the devil’s asshole. But how to get there safely? As a result, Dima climbs inside with a caving harness, and I belay him from the gate.
49. View from the spillway head to the old spillway and dam.
50. And here is a drawing showing temporary and permanent spillways.
51. Naturally, we filmed it at night.
52. Whatever you can do for the sake of a shot and a friend. Elements of barbed wire and clothing remained intact.
53. Beautiful view.
54. Niva - one of two expedition vehicles.
55. Actually, we came to the dam to film it.
56. And the second car - Blazer - in the car tunnel.
Many thanks to the press service of the RusHydro company and the Dagestan branch for their hospitality!
The landmark and pride of Dagestan - the Chirkey hydroelectric power station - is rightfully considered the pearl in the cascade of hydroelectric power stations. Located in the canyon of the same name, the rock circus and depth of which are not inferior to the world famous Grand Canyon in America, this station is not only an energy infrastructure facility, but also a tourist attraction. The very first hydroelectric station in the Sulak cascade of Dagestan, this station is a unique object of symbiosis of human engineering and natural beautiful landscapes.
Union of technology and nature
The narrow, widening gorge of Sulak, with a width of 30 meters above the river level, was curbed by the arch dam of the Chirkey hydroelectric station. The length of the station dam is 400 meters and the height is 232.5 meters. The pride of Dagestan, the Chirkey hydroelectric power station, occupies 11th position in the ranking of the 25 most beautiful and highest dams in the world. The dam's pressure structures form a reservoir with a water mass of 3 cubic kilometers and a water surface area of 42.5 square kilometers. The composition of the soil at the bottom of the reservoir gives its waters an unimaginably beautiful azure-turquoise color that amazes all tourists.
Pride of engineers
The Moscow branch of Glavgidrostroy of the USSR was involved in the development of the project and research into the potential of the Sulak River. In 1933, he proposed the first design of a concrete arch-gravity dam. However, only in 1962, when the Lenhydroproekt Institute took up the project, adding unique at that time two-tier suction pipes and the arrangement of units in two rows, the project acquired the level of an innovative model. At the same time, the length of the dam tunnel was almost doubled and amounted to 730 meters. Today, the station, which is located in a seismologically unstable area, is equipped with modern sensors for recording activity within the earth's crust. And the International Commission for Control of Nuclear Tests and Strategic Arms (headquartered in Austria) in 2013 gave the most highly appreciated design of the station as seismologically safe.
The highest in Russia
As already mentioned, the arch dam of the Chirkey hydroelectric power station is in eleventh place in the TOP-25 highest in the world. And in Russia it is the highest. The arched dam of the station is equipped with 4 radial axial units, which are designed for a water pressure of 170 meters.
Energy value
The Chirkey hydroelectric power station, the photos of which amaze with its scale and beauty, is one of the stations of the Dagestan branch of JSC RusHydro. The station is the most powerful in the North Caucasus, its installed capacity is 10 thousand MW, and during its operation it has generated more than 88 billion kilowatts of electricity. The highest in the cascade of Dagestan, it is the load regulator of the entire power system of southern Russia at the peak stage. Chirkey station is a kind of “ ambulance» in case of possible failure of thermal stations. With its power it is able to compensate for losses in the energy system of the entire country.
Water regulating function
In the lower reaches of the Chirkey HPP there are no restrictions on water discharge regimes. By regulating the flow of water in the Sulak River, it affects the productivity of the underlying stations and performs a water pumping function for vast areas near the station. The reservoir formed by the dam is a valuable source of fresh water both for the needs of the population and for industrial consumption. The uniqueness of the dam is recognized not only by energy experts around the world, but also by environmentalists.
We build with the whole world
Over the course of 17 years (1963-1980), at an accelerated pace, with the involvement of working potential from all over the USSR, more than 1.5 million cubic meters of concrete were laid into the body of the Chirkey hydroelectric power station dam. The damming of the river was carried out using an innovative blasting method along the contour with smooth rock spalling. The total weight of the charge was 37 tons of explosive. Seismological instability and an earthquake in 1970, which stopped construction for up to six months, also brought many difficulties. But in 1981, the station produced its first electricity at full capacity.
Gidrostroy dynasties
The satellite village of Dubki station was created in 1960 for builders from all the republics of the former Soviet Union and is designed for a population of about 10 thousand people. Its infrastructure has been preserved even today - three preschool institutions, one school, two cinemas and a palace of culture, a hospital complex and an indoor swimming pool. Towards the end construction work A branch of a plant for the production of electronic goods and a clothing factory were put into operation at the hydroelectric station. Dynasties of station builders live in the villages - parents built, children completed construction, and grandchildren work at the hydroelectric power station. The modern village of Dubki is an administrative unit of the Kazbekovsky district. The administration supports the development of multinational cultural societies, develops sports and introduces methods local government. An example is a successful fishery, which in itself has already become a landmark of the area.
Trout, sturgeon and other types of fish
Not a single excursion to the Chirkey hydroelectric power station is complete without a visit organized as an auxiliary one. The local government's innovative decision to organize a trout farm not only provided jobs to local residents, but also served an environmental function. Herbivorous trout prevent the silting of drainage structures. The farm releases the grown fry into the reservoir and breeds them in special tanks. Industrial fish farming is complex and labor-intensive, but in this case it is an example of the rational and efficient use of available resources. Golden trout is a capricious and whimsical fish, for which all conditions have been created here. And this includes water flow and optimal temperature regime, and special feed that is purchased in Moscow itself. In five reservoirs, the farm also breeds other valuable species of commercial fish (Siberian sturgeon, bester hybrids and rainbow trout). This first experience of fish farming in the north of Dagestan turned out to be successful and promising. Dubkin residents plan to expand production and increase the tourist attractiveness of the region.
Tourism development
Like any energy facility, the Chirkey HPP is a sensitive facility increased danger and enhanced security. Visiting it is possible only as part of an organized group. But even if you are a single tourist in the “country of mountains,” it’s worth going to this station and enjoying the beauty of the rock circus of the Sulak Gorge and the unimaginable steepness of the mountain serpentine. This majestic structure in the middle of multi-ton rocks will certainly amaze you with the power of human thought and deeds and will make you think about the role of humanity in the life of the planet and the impact of our activities on its wealth.
The Chirkey hydroelectric power station amazes the imagination every time you find yourself on it. It is precisely what “takes your breath away” when you see this graceful arch more than 200 meters high, sandwiched in a narrow gorge of the Sulak River in Dagestan.
1. Majestic view of the Chirkey reservoir. Clickable:
2. One of the features of the station is that the water level can vary widely - by about 40 meters.
3. Treacherous and almost quicksand. We almost left one car at the bottom.
4. The peculiarity of mountain hydroelectric power stations is that in winter the water flow is minimal and the station operates on accumulated reserves, triggering the reservoir. The flood begins at the end of March and ends only by August. The river flow is formed due to the melting of snow and glaciers, as well as rainfall, and the peak occurs in May-June.
5. You can see how much the water has gone, exposing the bottom of the reservoir. By the way, the Sulak River carries a large amount of sediment - 21.4 million tons per year.
6. First we went to the village of Dubki, which used to be a village of hydroelectric power station builders. Now it is a very poor village. Our guide first suggested going to see the canyon, which is visible from the village.
7. The view, to put it mildly, was mesmerizing. Clickable:
8. This is one of the deepest canyons in the world. Its length is 53 kilometers, its depth reaches 1920 meters. This is 120 meters deeper than the famous Grand Canyon. In depth it is second only to the Kotausi Canyon. And to see this, just go to the village of Dubki in Dagestan. And it’s nearby, just go past the garages and the landfill. Clickable:
9. There is even an unusual view of the Miatli hydroelectric station, which is a counter-regulator of the Chirkey hydroelectric station, smoothing out fluctuations in the river level. Sulak, arising due to uneven operation of hydroelectric power stations.
10. Having found our jaws at the bottom of the canyon, we went to another observation point, to the benchmark. There is a fantastic view of the dam.
11. Insanely beautiful view.
12. The concrete arch dam has a crest length of 338 m and a maximum height of 232.5 m - this is the second highest dam in Russia (after the dam of the Sayano-Shushenskaya hydroelectric power station, which has not a purely arch, but an arch-gravity design).
13. The dam consists of an arched part, a wedge-shaped plug and a right-bank abutment. The arched part of the dam is double curvature, symmetrical in outline, 184.5 m high, thickness varies from 6 m at the crest to 30 m at the contact with the plug.
14. The base of the dam is a plug 48 m high, 40 m wide and 88 m long at the base, in the lower part of which there is a longitudinal cavity of elliptical shape with a length of 21 m and a span of 21 m.
15. The presence of this cavity intrigued me. It is marked on the cross section of the dam; all that remains is to understand whether it is possible to get there?
16. These two panoramas were processed at different times, so they are different. But both are good in their own way. Yes, that’s actually the color of the water there! Water from the mountains carries many impurities that settle to the bottom of the reservoir. And in the lower pool we can see water of the most delicate turquoise color.
17. Trying to shoot a view inside the arch. Well, something like this. Here you can see that, indeed, the dam is of double curvature.
18. On the right bank there is an outdoor switchgear.
19. During construction, a huge rock fall occurred on the left bank, which jeopardized the construction of the station in general in this section. We managed to do it by tightening the mountain with steel ropes from the inside. Clickable:
20. Road tunnel portal. You need to drive along it to go down to the tailwater.
21. We are discussing the filming plan. Since the water level in the reservoir has dropped to almost a minimum level and is below the spillway threshold, it is guaranteed that there will be no water in it. Therefore, it can be entered.
22. We should go there. In the photo, ending with a springboard with a side drain - damper; the open part of the spillway has a total length of 221 m.
23. An artificial wall 200 meters high. The height of the entire dam, as I already wrote, is 232.5 meters, but not all of it is shown in the photo. Even taking into account the height of the traffic jam is almost 50 meters, there will be 180 meters here.
24. Open tray and people for scale.
25. The slightly inclined part of the spillway is 350 m long and 12.6 meters high. If you look closely, you can find the person in the photo.
26. An inclined section of a horseshoe-shaped tunnel with a length of 158 m, a width at the bottom of 9.2 m and a height of 12.6 m.
27. The speed of water, or rather, the water-air mixture in the underground tunnel reaches 55 meters per second.
28. Machine room. Due to the narrowness of the gorge, for the first time in the world, a double-row arrangement of hydraulic units was used here. Those. 4 GAs are arranged in pairs in two rows.
29. Turbine shaft.
30. A very familiar phone. I used to see these at the metro construction site and they were called shaft phones.
31. Due to the low water level, we were able to see this structure, which is usually hidden from view
32. View of the dam from the reservoir.
33. Naturally, it was impossible to miss the opportunity not to go down to the bottom of the reservoir and see that strange structure.
34. Beautiful metal texture.
35. Fantastic color of water!
36. Some kind of adit from the time of construction.
37. Devil's Point, or the head of the spillway. Now the top view.
The Chirkey hydroelectric power station amazes the imagination every time you find yourself on it.
I had already written similar material on this station and, to be honest, I didn’t plan to do a new one, but on one of my trips I again found myself at the Chirkey hydroelectric station and even managed to visit places I had never been before. And learn something new. Thanks to our friends from RusHydro!
Majestic view of the Chirkey reservoir.
One of the peculiarities of the station is that the water level can vary widely - by about 40 meters.
Treacherous and almost quicksand. We almost left one car at the bottom.
The peculiarity of mountain hydroelectric power stations is that in winter the water flow is minimal and the station operates on accumulated reserves, triggering the reservoir. The flood begins at the end of March and ends only by August. The river flow is formed due to the melting of snow and glaciers, as well as rainfall, and the peak occurs in May-June.
You can see how far the water has gone, exposing the bottom of the reservoir. By the way, the Sulak River carries a large amount of sediment - 21.4 million tons per year.
First we went to the village of Dubki, which used to be a village of hydroelectric power station builders. Now it is a very poor village. Our guide first suggested we go see the canyon, which is visible from the village. We were skeptical about this, how the hell could there be a canyon in the village?! But it was impolite to refuse.
"...your mother!" - the only thing that burst out from us in unison when, having passed the garages and the landfill, we came out to the canyon. With a friendly click, the jaws dropped to a depth of a kilometer or so. The view was mesmerizing, to say the least.
This is one of the deepest canyons in the world. Its length is 53 kilometers, its depth reaches 1920 meters. This is 120 meters deeper than the famous Grand Canyon. In depth it is second only to the Kotausi Canyon. And to see this, just go to the village of Dubki in Dagestan. And it’s nearby, just go past the garages and the landfill.
There is even an unusual view of the Miatli hydroelectric station, which is a counter-regulator of the Chirkey hydroelectric station, smoothing out fluctuations in the river level. Sulak, arising due to uneven operation of hydroelectric power stations.
Having found our jaws at the bottom of the canyon, we went to another observation point, to the benchmark. There is a fantastic view of the dam.
Insanely beautiful view.
The concrete arch dam has a crest length of 338 m and a maximum height of 232.5 m - this is the second highest dam in Russia (after the dam of the Sayano-Shushenskaya hydroelectric power station, which has not a purely arch, but an arch-gravity design).
The dam consists of an arched part, a wedge-shaped plug and a right-bank abutment. The arched part of the dam is double curvature, symmetrical in outline, 184.5 m high, thickness varies from 6 m at the crest to 30 m at the contact with the plug.
The base of the dam is a plug 48 m high, 40 m wide and 88 m long at the base, in the lower part of which there is a longitudinal cavity of an elliptical shape with a length of 21 m and a span of 21 m.
The presence of this cavity intrigued me. It is marked on the cross section of the dam; all that remains is to understand whether it is possible to get there?
These two panoramas were processed at different times, so they are different. But both are good in their own way. Yes, that’s actually the color of the water there! Water from the mountains carries many impurities that settle to the bottom of the reservoir. And in the lower pool we can see water of the most delicate turquoise color.
Using a tripod and a fish eye, we try to capture the view inside the arch.
Well, something like this. Here you can see that, indeed, the dam is of double curvature.
Or here’s a panorama from Dima.
On the right bank there is an outdoor switchgear.
During construction, a huge rock fall occurred on the left bank, which jeopardized the construction of the station in general in this section. We managed to do it by tightening the mountain with steel ropes from the inside.
Road tunnel portal. You need to drive along it to go down to the tailwater.
We are discussing the shooting plan. Since the water level in the reservoir has dropped to almost a minimum level and is below the spillway threshold, it is guaranteed that there will be no water in it. Therefore, it can be entered.
Let's go there. The photo shows an open spillway tray ending with a springboard with a side drain - damper; the open part of the spillway has a total length of 221 m.
An artificial wall 200 meters high. The height of the entire dam, as I already wrote, is 232.5 meters, but not all of it is shown in the photo. Even taking into account the height of the traffic jam is almost 50 meters, there will be 180 meters here.
Open tray and people for scale.
The slightly inclined part of the spillway is 350 m long and 12.6 meters high. If you look closely, you can find the person in the photo.
An inclined section of a horseshoe-shaped tunnel with a length of 158 m, a width at the bottom of 9.2 m and a height of 12.6 m.
The speed of water, or rather, the water-air mixture in the underground tunnel reaches 55 meters per second.
The entire sloping area. A piece of the shutter is visible at the top.
The tunnel portal through which the river was passed during the construction period. It can be seen due to the low water level in the tailwater.
For the first time in my life I made a vertical panorama. Break your brain
They entered the machine room, but quickly. Last time they filmed everything here and even climbed into the spiral chamber. Let me remind you that due to the narrowness of the gorge, for the first time in the world, a double-row arrangement of hydraulic units was used here. Those. 4 GAs are arranged in pairs in two rows.
Turbine shaft.
A very familiar phone. I used to see these at the metro construction site and they were called shaft phones.
Due to the low water level, we were able to see this structure, which is usually hidden from view.
I continue to rake through tons of photo information from our Dagestan blog tour with RusHydro. And today we will talk about another pride of our hydro-construction thought, a unique hydroelectric power station located in fabulously beautiful places - the Chirkey hydroelectric power station.
The Chirkey hydroelectric power station is located on the Sulak River near the village of Dubki, in the Buinaksky region of Dagestan. It is the largest hydroelectric power station in the North Caucasus. It is part of the Sulak cascade of hydroelectric power stations, being its upper stage, regulating the entire cascade. In addition, it is the main regulating station in the United Energy System of the South of Russia. Plus, in emergency situations, it is capable of quickly replacing the missing capacity of 150-300 MW of thermal power plants. The dam of the Chirkey hydroelectric power station is the second highest (232.5 m), after the Sayano-Shushenskaya hydroelectric power station (245 m) and the highest arch dam in Russia.
Installed power of the station is 1,000 MW, provided power is 950 MW, average annual output electricity is 2,430 million kWh.
In 1928 - 1930, the Leningrad branch of Energostroy carried out field surveys and design studies on the hydropower use of the Sulak River. The result of which was that the Chirkey hydroelectric power station will be in these places. Since 1931, the design of the station has been carried out by the Moscow branch of Glavgidroelektrostroy, which in 1933 prepared a preliminary design of a hydroelectric power station with an arched-gravity concrete dam, but it was rejected due to the need to continue survey work at the site of the Chirkey hydroelectric power station due to difficult engineering and geological conditions.
1956 - 1960 returned to this problem, but the design of the station was transferred to the Baku branch of the Hydroproject. Two options for the layout of the hydroelectric power station were considered - with arch and earth dams. The first option was chosen and approved by Resolution of the Council of Ministers of the USSR No. 570 of June 8, 1962.
2. View of the Sulak Canyon from the ridge of the dam. By the way, in terms of its depth in this place (1,920 m), it significantly exceeds its famous brother, the Colorado River canyon (depth up to 1,800 m) in North America. 
In practice, it turned out that not everything was so simple, so it was decided to transfer further patronage of the project to the Lenhydroproekt Institute, which, after analyzing it, made significant changes to the project, namely: the abandonment of the underground hydroelectric power station building in favor of the one near the dam due to doubts about its reliability in difficult conditions. geological conditions; designing a hydroelectric power station building with a two-row arrangement of hydraulic units, which made it possible to reduce the length of the building by half; changing the design of the construction tunnel by increasing its length from 350 m to 730 m, which made it possible to move it beyond the unstable section of the slope.
On December 14, 1967, the technical design of the Chirkey hydroelectric power station was approved by order of the Council of Ministers of the USSR No. 2881-R, but the go-ahead to begin construction was given already on June 11, 1963 by order of the USSR Ministry of Energy No. 84. The construction of temporary roads to the hydroelectric power station construction site from Buinaksk and Kizilyurt began , as well as power transmission lines necessary for power supply to the construction - 35 kV power transmission line from the Buinaksk substation and 110 kV Chiryurt-Chirkey power line by the Chirkeygesstroy Construction Department. In August 1963, development of the station construction site began, and in November 1964, the site for the permanent settlement of Dubki hydropower workers was finally selected.
3. General view at the outdoor switchgear (open switchgear) - 330 kV, control building with an observation deck and an elevator shaft. 
On October 29, 1967, the Sulak River was blocked, and on February 28, 1970, the first concrete was laid at the base of the dam (bank plugs). The work, as always at that time, proceeded according to Stakhanov’s style, record after record, and already on August 13, 1974, the dam of the Chirkey hydroelectric power station was brought under pressure. On August 7, 1974, the filling of the Chirkey reservoir began.
The first hydraulic unit of the Chirkey hydroelectric power station was launched on December 22, 1974, at an intermediate level of the reservoir and a dam built to a height of 185 m. The second and third hydraulic units were launched on September 28 and December 30, 1975, respectively. The last, fourth hydraulic unit was put into permanent operation on June 30, 1976.
The construction of the Chirkey hydroelectric power station was officially completed on February 9, 1981, with the signing of the acceptance certificate for the hydroelectric power station for commercial operation. During the construction of the Chirkey hydroelectric power station, 2.686 million m³ of earth and rock work was carried out (including 2.143 million m³ of excavation rocky soil), 1.491 million m³ of concrete and reinforced concrete were laid, 9.8 thousand tons of metal structures and mechanisms were installed.
4. By the way, we won’t see such beauty soon. According to the plan of the RusHydro modernization program, the local 330 kV outdoor switchgear will be replaced with a modern 330 kV switchgear (complete gas-insulated switchgear) 
The station's structures include an arch dam, a hydroelectric power station building near the dam, an operational tunnel spillway and the Tishiklinskaya dam (not part of RusHydro, but owned by the municipality of Chirkey Village, Buinaksky district) located 10 km above the dam and designed to protect the valley from flooding Shuraozen River.
5. General view of the Chirkey hydroelectric power station dam and reservoir. The area of the Chirkey reservoir is 42.5 km², the total and useful volume is 2.78 and 1.32 km³, respectively. The concrete arch dam is divided into 18 concreting sections 16 m wide. It has a crest length of 338 m and a maximum height of 232.5 m. The dam itself consists of an arched part, a wedge-shaped plug and a right-bank abutment. The peculiarity of the dam is that it has a double curvature - it is concave not only horizontally, but also vertically. Thanks to this and its arched design, its width is only 6 meters at the crest and 30 meters at the base of the dam. 
The base of the dam is a plug 48 m high, 40 m wide and 88 m long at the base, in the lower part of which there is a longitudinal cavity of an elliptical shape 21 m long and a span of 21 m. The central part of the dam, 75 m long (four sections), is a station. It contains inclined water intakes (from the upstream side) and 4 turbine water conduits (located on the downstream side of the dam).
6. Turbine water conduits have a diameter of 5.5 m and an average length of 250 m. For the convenience of monitoring the condition of the platinum, 10 galleries have been created at different levels. 
8. Another panorama of the Sulak River canyon 
9. When we were at the station, the water level in the reservoir was quite low, and we could observe the following picture. All these items can swim :) 
10. The inlet of the operational spillway of the Chirkey hydroelectric power station has a span of 22 m, and is closed by a segment gate 14 m high. The operational spillway is located on the left bank 85 m from the dam. Bandwidth the spillway is at NPU - 2,400 m³/s and at FPU - 2,900 m³/s. 
11. Downstream of the Chirkey hydroelectric station 
13. The hydroelectric power station building is of the dam type, directly adjacent to the dam plug, has a length of 60 m and a width of 43.8 m. 
17. We begin our tour of the hydroelectric power station itself and, of course, we are looking for any “raisins”. Here, for example, is one of the tunnels passing through the body of the dam. 
19. And this is a machine room where 4 vertical hydraulic units are installed with radial-axial turbines RO 230/9896-V-450 produced by the Kharkov Turbine Plant and generators VGSF 930/233-30 with a capacity of 250 MW each produced by Uralelectrotyazhmash. 
Another highlight of the station is the two-row arrangement of these same hydraulic units with a two-tier arrangement of suction pipes. This made it possible to almost halve the length of the structure. Such a revolutionary solution in hydraulic construction was implemented for the first time in Russia and there are no analogues in our country. Accordingly, the station has two parallel machine rooms.
21. As part of the modernization program, equipment is constantly being updated, so soon the last hydraulic unit No. 2 will be like new 
22. And this is the Central Control Panel 
25. This is, in short, what the Chirkey hydroelectric station looks like. 
Many thanks to the press service of JSC RusHydro, as well as Patimat Sirazhutdinovna Khaibulaeva, head of the public relations group of the Dagestan branch of JSC RusHydro, for such an interesting and rich program.
More from my Dagestan tour with JSC RusHydro:
Gotsatlinskaya hydroelectric power station.
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