Sayano-Shushenskaya Hydroelectric Power Plant

The Sayano-Shushenskaya Hydroelectric Power Plant, located in the village of Cheryomushki near the city of Sayanogorsk on the Yenisei River is the largest hydroelectric generation plant in Russia with a capacity of 6400 MW and an average annual output of 24 billion KWh. The power plant building houses 10 radial-axial hydro turbines with a capacity of 640 MW each, the dam operating at an average head of 194 metres of water with a maximum head of 220 m.

The head at the Sayano-Shushenskaya Power Plant is formed by a 242 m arch-gravity dam with a base width of 105.7 m and crest width of 25 m. The crest length of the arch-gravity dam is 1074.4 m. The unique arch dam was designed by the Lenhydroproekt Institute.

The dam's stability and strength are ensured by its own weight and partly by the upper arch belt which transmits its load onto the rocky banks.

In cross-section the dam has the shape of four concrete pillars. There are 10 longitudinal rooms in the body of the dam along its upper edge. These rooms house about 11,000 gauges and meters that monitor the state of the structure and its individual elements. The lower gallery is simultaneously used as a spillway.

The spillway has 11 underwater races consisting of one closed and one open race on the lower edge of the dam. The open passageways are connected by ski-jump tips. A 144.8 m long concrete water-breaking well abutting onto a water-breaking wall in the lower head is intended to dampen the energy of the flow and prevent an erosion of the rock foundation.

Maximum spillway capacity is 13,600 cubic metres per second.

The station part of the dam has 10 stationary water intakes with 7.5 m turbine water ducts with 1.5 m thick reinforced concrete facing. The water intakes are 3 metres below the reservoir dead level and are barred by two rows of flat hydraulic-drive shutters.

The Sayano-Shushenskaya Power Plant is the biggest source for covering peak loads in the Unified Energy System of Russia and Siberia. The Sayano-Shushenskaya Power Plant's primary consumers are the Sayanogorsk Aluminium Plant, the Khakassian Aluminium Plant, the Krasnoyarsk Aluminium Plant, the Novokuznetsk Aluminim Plant and the Kuznetsk Ferrous Alloy Plant.

Sayano-Shushenskaya Power Plant performance indicators:

 (as of August 1, 2009)

Downstream from the Sayano-Shushenskaya Power Plant is the 321 MW counter-regulating Mainskaya Hydroelectric Power Plant which is organisationally part of the Sayano-Shushenskaya Power Plant.