Rybinsk Hydroelectric Station or Rybinsk GES is a hydroelectric station on the Volga and the Sheksna rivers in Yaroslavl Oblast

Yaroslavl Oblast

Yaroslavl Oblast is a federal subject of Russia , which is located in the Central Federal District, surrounded by Tver, Moscow, Ivanovo, Vladimir, Kostroma, and Vologda Oblasts. This geographic location affords the oblast the advantages of proximity to Moscow and St. Petersburg...

 near the Rybinsk

Rybinsk

Rybinsk is the second largest city of Yaroslavl Oblast, Russia, which lies at the confluence of the Volga and Sheksna Rivers. Population: It is served by Rybinsk Staroselye airport.-Early history:...

 town. it is the third of the Volga-Kama Cascade of dams.

General data

Construction began in 1948 and was completed in 1950.

The complex consists of

• Concrete spillway dam on the Volga river,
• Earth-fill dam on the Volga river, 524 m long and 27 m high
• Single-lane, single-chamber lock on the Volga river
• Earth-fill dam on the Sheksna river, 470 m long and 35 m high
• Left-bank and righ-bank dams on the Sheksna river, with total length of 6035 m.
• Powerhouse on Sheksna river.

Installed power is 346.4 MW, average annual production is 644 GWh. Power house has 6 generators with Kaplan turbine

Kaplan 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, working at 13.4 m head: 4 of 55 MW each and 2 of 63.2 MW each. The dam forms Rybinsk Reservoir

Rybinsk Reservoir

Rybinsk Reservoir , informally called the Rybinsk Sea, is a water reservoir on the Volga River and its tributaries Sheksna and Mologa, formed by Rybinsk Hydroelectric Station dam, located on the territories of Tver, Vologda, and Yaroslavl Oblasts. At the time of its construction, it was the largest...

. A highway is passing over Volga river by the dam.

Usage

The station covers peaks of electricity demand of central Russia. The reservoir is used for annual discharge regulation, boosting enegry production on lower hydroelectric stations on the Volga. The reservoir is used for navigation ( it is the lowest stage of Volga-Baltic Waterway

Volga-Baltic Waterway

The Volga–Baltic Waterway, formerly known as the Mariinsk Canal System , is a series of canals and rivers in Russia which link the Volga River with the Baltic Sea...

 ) and flood control.

History

Initially the project of a dam in upper Volga considered a dam at 14 km up from Yaroslavl

Yaroslavl

Yaroslavl is a city and the administrative center of Yaroslavl Oblast, Russia, located northeast of Moscow. The historical part of the city, a World Heritage Site, is located at the confluence of the Volga and the Kotorosl Rivers. It is one of the Golden Ring cities, a group of historic cities...

 with much less flood area, and preparations had been started. Later the project was reconsidered to an existing one. The Mologa

Mologa

Mologa was a town in Yaroslavl Oblast, Russia, formerly situated at the confluence of Mologa and Volga Rivers, but now submerged under the waters of the Rybinsk Reservoir....

 town was flooded.

Timeline:

• May 23, 1938 - the project was approved.
• June 1940 - construction has been started.
• June 24, 1940 - the Volga dam completed.
• October 24, 1940 - the Sheksna dam completed.
• April 13, 1941 - reservoir started to fill.
• November 18, 1941 - first turbine unit was put under load.
• August 15, 1942 - second turbine unit was put under load.
• August 1945 — December 1950 — the rest 4 units were launched.

Construction was supervised by NKVD

NKVD

The People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs was the public and secret police organization of the Soviet Union that directly executed the rule of power of the Soviets, including political repression, during the era of Joseph Stalin....

 and forced labour was extensively used. First turbines were started during the most difficult period of World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

, while termal power plants suffered from lack of fuel. The station building was incomplete at that moment, and worked under tarp tent as a roof. Construction was continued after the war, and July 30, 1955 Uglich Hydroelectric Station

Uglich

Uglich is a historic town in Yaroslavl Oblast, Russia, which stands on the Volga River. Population: A local tradition dates the town's origins to 937. It was first documented in 1148 as Ugliche Pole...

and Rybinsk hydroelectric stations were officially completed and formed "1st cascade of Mosenergo hydroelectric stations". At that moment station's installed power was 330 MW.

From 1998 to 2002 two of six generator units were replaced, increasing installed
power by 16 MW. 4 other units are planned for replacement, too. There are also
plans of installing 2 new generating units, increasing installed power up to 505.6 MW.