Cheboksary Hydroelectric Station
Encyclopedia
The Cheboksary Dam is a hydroelectric dam on the Volga river
, the latest of the Volga-Kama Cascade of dams.
s, each 78 MW at 12.4 m head. The dam forms Cheboksary Reservoir
with surface area of 2182 km².
Republic. Flooded land included valuable meadows, several hundred acres ( hectares ) of oak forest that was not duly felled.
Rising normal water level to design value of 68 m was hindered first by incompelete reservoir banks protection, then being opposed by Nizhny Novgorod Oblast
and Mari El
Republic. Now the station is operating at 63 m water level, with actual installed power of 800 MW and average annual production of 2100 GWh. Also lowered level poses difficulties to navigation on the Volga river between Nizhny Novgorod
and Gorodets
, with allowed drift down to 3 m, whereas it is 4 m on other parts of the Volga. Water quality in reservoir degrades because shallow waters comprise 33% af its area instead of designed 19%. The water level problem is still being discussed.
Further water level rise will cause flood of vast areas of Nizhny Novgorod Oblast
and Mari El
, including most part of Nizhny Novgorod
between the Oka and the Volga rivers.
Volga River
The Volga is the largest river in Europe in terms of length, discharge, and watershed. It flows through central Russia, and is widely viewed as the national river of Russia. Out of the twenty largest cities of Russia, eleven, including the capital Moscow, are situated in the Volga's drainage...
, the latest of the Volga-Kama Cascade of dams.
Technical data
Construction started in the USSR in 1968 and mostly completed by 1986. Complex consists of power plant built in dam 548 m long, concrete spillway dam 120 m long, earth fill dams with total length of 3355 m, and a single-chamber two-lane lock. Total water front length is 4480 m. Installed power is 1404 MW, designed average annual production is 3310 GWh, but actual annual production is 2100 GWh due to lowered reservoir level. Power house has 18 generator units with Kaplan turbineKaplan turbine
The Kaplan turbine is a propeller-type water turbine which has adjustable blades. It was developed in 1913 by the Austrian professor Viktor Kaplan, who combined automatically adjusted propeller blades with automatically adjusted wicket gates to achieve efficiency over a wide range of flow and...
s, each 78 MW at 12.4 m head. The dam forms Cheboksary Reservoir
Cheboksary Reservoir
Cheboksary Reservoir is an artificial lake in the central part of the Volga River and formed by the Cheboksary Dam in Novocheboksarsk....
with surface area of 2182 km².
Reservoir level problem
The station began to work in 1981 with normal water level lowered to 63 m above sea level. Most of flooded land belonged to Mari ElMari El
The Mari El Republic is a federal subject of Russia . Its capital is the city of Yoshkar-Ola. Population: -Geography:The republic is located in the eastern part of the East European Plain of Russia, along the Volga River. The swampy Mari Depression is located in the west of the republic...
Republic. Flooded land included valuable meadows, several hundred acres ( hectares ) of oak forest that was not duly felled.
Rising normal water level to design value of 68 m was hindered first by incompelete reservoir banks protection, then being opposed by Nizhny Novgorod Oblast
Nizhny Novgorod Oblast
Nizhny Novgorod Oblast is a federal subject of Russia . Its administrative center is the city of Nizhny Novgorod. Population: The oblast is crossed by the Volga River. Apart from Nizhny Novgorod's metropolitan area, the biggest city is Arzamas...
and Mari El
Mari El
The Mari El Republic is a federal subject of Russia . Its capital is the city of Yoshkar-Ola. Population: -Geography:The republic is located in the eastern part of the East European Plain of Russia, along the Volga River. The swampy Mari Depression is located in the west of the republic...
Republic. Now the station is operating at 63 m water level, with actual installed power of 800 MW and average annual production of 2100 GWh. Also lowered level poses difficulties to navigation on the Volga river between Nizhny Novgorod
Nizhny Novgorod
Nizhny Novgorod , colloquially shortened to Nizhny, is, with the population of 1,250,615, the fifth largest city in Russia, ranking after Moscow, St. Petersburg, Novosibirsk, and Yekaterinburg...
and Gorodets
Gorodets
Gorodets is a town and the administrative center of Gorodetsky District of Nizhny Novgorod Oblast, Russia, located on the left bank of the Volga River, northwest of Nizhny Novgorod...
, with allowed drift down to 3 m, whereas it is 4 m on other parts of the Volga. Water quality in reservoir degrades because shallow waters comprise 33% af its area instead of designed 19%. The water level problem is still being discussed.
Further water level rise will cause flood of vast areas of Nizhny Novgorod Oblast
Nizhny Novgorod Oblast
Nizhny Novgorod Oblast is a federal subject of Russia . Its administrative center is the city of Nizhny Novgorod. Population: The oblast is crossed by the Volga River. Apart from Nizhny Novgorod's metropolitan area, the biggest city is Arzamas...
and Mari El
Mari El
The Mari El Republic is a federal subject of Russia . Its capital is the city of Yoshkar-Ola. Population: -Geography:The republic is located in the eastern part of the East European Plain of Russia, along the Volga River. The swampy Mari Depression is located in the west of the republic...
, including most part of Nizhny Novgorod
Nizhny Novgorod
Nizhny Novgorod , colloquially shortened to Nizhny, is, with the population of 1,250,615, the fifth largest city in Russia, ranking after Moscow, St. Petersburg, Novosibirsk, and Yekaterinburg...
between the Oka and the Volga rivers.