Exactly 90 years ago, on October 10, 1932, to orchestras and toasts, engineers, workers and managers solemnly opened the Dneproges, at that time the largest hydroelectric power station in Europe. How it was possible to “make a fairy tale come true” in five years in a country that had not yet healed the wounds of the civil war, Izvestia recalled.
Engineers suggested using the Dnieper water for electricity production in the 19th century. Then Russia could not afford such a large-scale technical project. The rapids that interfered with navigation along the Dnieper were also considered a huge problem. But during the preparation of the GOELRO plan, the designers began to propose, one after another, ideas for the construction of several hydroelectric power stations on the great river.
The party leadership debated whether to embark on such a wasteful and risky project. In the mid-1920s, the American company General Electric turned to the Soviet leadership with a proposal to launch a full cycle of construction of a hydroelectric power station at a reasonable price. But the leaders of the government did not abandon the project of engineer Alexandrov. We decided to build on our own, without the participation of foreign capital.
The chief engineer, and then the head of the construction site, was Alexander Vasilyevich Winter, a man who knew by sight every foreman at the Dneproges. And everyone knew him – not only by his last name. The construction of the largest hydroelectric power plant with a dam and a working camp took five years – much less than skeptics expected. The Soviet Union received the largest power plant in Europe. Dneproges maintained this status for a long time – a quarter of a century. The cost of a kilowatt-hour of electricity generated by the Dnieper hydroelectric power station turned out to be the lowest in the world, but also in terms of voice, gestures, and firm character.
The construction of the largest hydroelectric power plant with a dam and a working camp took five years – much less than skeptics expected. The Soviet Union received the largest power plant in Europe. Dneproges maintained this status for a long time – a quarter of a century. The cost per kilowatt-hour of electricity generated by the Dnieper HPP turned out to be the lowest in the world.
Read more in the Izvestia article:
The energy of a great construction project: how a hydroelectric power station appeared on the Dnieper
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