The Boguchanskaya HPP, like many large-scale Soviet construction projects that began in the 70-80s of the last century, did not escape the fate of long-term construction. One of the first mentions of it can be found in the transcripts of the XXII Congress of the CPSU, when the first secretary of the Central Committee Nikita Khrushchev set the task of building the station by 1980. However, due to the enormous effort with which the country was building other hydroelectric power stations, construction of the station only began this year. And only in the new century, after two decades of freezing, the construction came to life and moved at a fairly brisk pace towards successful commissioning.
So, in order.
1971
The need for the construction of hydroelectric power stations was determined: Resolution of the Central Committee of the CPSU and the Council of Ministers of the USSR dated February 1, 1971 No. 65 “On measures for further comprehensive development in 1971 - 1980.” productive forces of the Krasnoyarsk region".
1974
In October, the first construction team arrived at the BoGES construction site. These were experienced hydraulic builders of the BratskGESstroy trust, who already had not only the Bratsk and Ust-Ilimsk hydroelectric power stations, but also thermal power plants in Buryatia and Yakutia.
1976
On May 10, the Construction Department of the Boguchanskaya HPP was created as part of the Bratskgesstroy enterprise, the legal successor of which is OJSC Boguchanskaya HPP.
Igor Borisovich Mikhailov was appointed head of the USBOGES. A graduate of the Moscow Highway Institute, he worked on the construction of the Bratsk Hydroelectric Power Station from the late fifties: he was a foreman, senior foreman, and then headed the highway construction department of BratskGESstroy. By this time, the hydraulic construction team consisted of 647 people.
1977
Piles were driven for the first house in Kodinsk, the future city of hydraulic engineers. Young specialists at that time went to the construction site of the century not only “for the fog and smell of the taiga,” but also for a new comfortable apartment. By the way, this Soviet practice has been preserved in Kodinsk to this day: new residents here do not buy, but receive apartments from the state. The construction was declared an All-Union Komsomol shock construction project.
1978
By order of the “Hydroproject”, the Boguchany expedition is combined with the Angarsk expedition, which was created back in 1954 for research for the Bratsk hydroelectric power station. In the same 1978, by decision of the executive committee of the Regional Council of Workers' Deputies, the village of Kodinskaya Zaimka was renamed into the workers' village of Kodinsky.
1979
By order of the Council of Ministers of the USSR dated December 7, 1979 No. 2699 r, the technical design of the Boguchanskaya HPP with an installed capacity of 2997 MW and electricity production of 17.6 billion kWh per year was approved.
1980s
On June 18, 1980, the first cubic meter of earth was excavated from the site. This day is considered to be the beginning of the construction of the station. At a meeting dedicated to this event, in honor of the excavation of the first cube of soil from the main structures, the team accepted an additional commitment to remove 250,000 cubic meters of soil from the pit of the BoGES by the opening day of the 26th Party Congress.
Exactly one year from the day of the symbolic removal of the first bucket from the foundation pit of the BoGES, the 600,000th milestone was passed, i.e. more than half of the planned volume of earth and rock work.
The cofferdam of the right bank was completed in September 1981, and a couple of months later the water was pumped out of the pit and earth-rock work began. Soon the station was declared an all-Union Komsomol shock construction site; the names of universities in Moscow and Leningrad, Irkutsk and Krasnoyarsk were heard on its site. Throughout the 80s, cases of parasitism heard in the Kodinsk city court could be counted on one hand.
The first cubic meter of concrete was laid in the concrete part of the dam on April 17, 1982, and the 100,000th in 1984.
The hangar at the Boguchanskaya HPP site was closed only in October 1987. According to Soviet tradition - for the anniversary, the 70th anniversary of the October Revolution. At this point, the time of great achievements ended, and construction virtually froze for two long decades.
1990s
Years of stagnation. Construction was frozen. In accordance with Resolution of the Council of Ministers of the USSR dated April 30, 1980 No. 798r, the launch of the first units was scheduled for 1988, and completion of construction for 1992. However, due to insufficient funding, the launch date of the hydroelectric power station was repeatedly postponed by orders of the USSR Ministry of Energy: dated April 27, 1987 No. 134a - to 1993; dated November 16, 1988 No. 620 - for 1994; from November 10, 1989 – for 1995. By Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation of March 26, 1994 No. 236, the launch of the hydroelectric power station was determined in 1997, but this deadline was not met, since work on completing the station was practically stopped.
2005 year
On April 12, 2005, Decree of the President of the Russian Federation No. 412 “On measures for the socio-economic development of the Krasnoyarsk Territory, Taimyr (Dolgano-Nenets) Autonomous Okrug and Evenki Autonomous Okrug” came into force, where the Government of the Russian Federation was instructed to provide state support in ensuring the start of operation Boguchanskaya hydroelectric power station in 2010 and preparation of the reservoir flood zone.
On June 29, 2005, a Memorandum of Intent was signed between RAO UES of Russia OAO (HydroOGK OAO) and RUSAL OAO on the issue of joint completion of the construction of the Boguchanskaya HPP and the further creation on the basis of the hydroelectric power station of the Boguchansky Energy and Metallurgical Association (BEMO), the second the key object of which will be the Boguchansky aluminum smelter - the main consumer of electricity from the hydroelectric station.
2006
In accordance with the order of RAO UES of Russia OJSC No. 820 dated December 15, 2005 “On the reversal of work to begin construction of the Boguchanskaya HPP in 2006,” the pace of work lost in previous years was completely resumed at the hydroelectric power station construction site.
On April 21, 2006, by the decision of the Board of Directors of RAO UES of Russia, Minutes No. 220, the participation of OAO HydroOGK in the joint project of the Boguchany Energy and Metallurgical Association (BEMO) with OAO RUSAL was approved. Representatives of the company on the Board of Directors of JSC HydroOGK are instructed to vote for decisions related to the creation of the corporate structure of the project.
On May 31, 2006, HydroOGK and RUSAL announced the signing of a Cooperation Agreement between the open joint-stock company "Federal Hydro-Generating Company", the open joint-stock company "RUSAL", the company RUSAL LIMITED, the company RUSAL ENERGY LIMITED and the open joint-stock company RAO "UES of Russia" in joint implementation project to create the Boguchany Energy and Metallurgical Association (BEMO). It was decided to continue financing the construction of the Boguchany hydroelectric power station and the Boguchany aluminum smelter on a parity basis.
On December 27, 2006, JSC HydroOGK (JSC RusHydro) and UC RUSAL summed up the results of the tender for the supply of nine hydraulic turbines and nine hydrogenerators with a nominal capacity of 333 MW each for the Boguchanskaya HPP. The winner of the competition was OJSC Power Machines.
2007
On April 17, 2007, an Investment Agreement was signed on joint financing of the investment project “Comprehensive Development of the Lower Angara Region”, the basis of which is the BEMO project (Boguchansky Energy and Metallurgical Association), at the expense of funds from the Investment Fund of the Russian Federation and funds from commercial organizations. The agreement was concluded between the responsible executors - the Federal Road Agency, the Federal Agency for Railway Transport and the Federal Energy Agency, the State Customer - the Council of the Administration of the Krasnoyarsk Territory and the Development Corporation of the Krasnoyarsk Territory, representing the interests of co-investors - the United Company "Russian Aluminum", OJSC "HydroOGK" (OJSC "RusHydro"), Vnesheconombank.
In October 2007, the temporary lock of the Boguchanskaya hydroelectric power station was closed, which since 1988 had been used for the passage of timber in rafts, ships with cargo and the supply of building materials for the dam. The original project envisaged the operation of a temporary lock for 4 years, but due to a long suspension of construction, it functioned until October 2007. Closing the sluice is an important stage in the construction of the Boguchanskaya HPP; in its significance, this technological process is equivalent to closing the bottom holes before filling the reservoir of the HPP.
2008
In July 2008, at the Boguchanskaya HPP, the closure of the pressure pipelines of all turbines of the station was completed - the last link of the pipeline of the ninth aggregate section of the dam was installed. A total of 4,320 tons of metal structures and 1,700 tons of reinforcement cages were installed on nine water pipelines. The ninth pipeline was installed in record time - within one calendar month.
In September 2008, a barge with hydraulic turbine equipment with a total weight of 400 tons, which was intended for the installation of the first of nine hydraulic units of the station, was unloaded at the berth for heavy vessels of Boguchanskaya HPP OJSC. The radial-axial impeller, the shaft of the first hydraulic unit and the turbine covers were manufactured at the Leningrad Metal Plant (LMZ).
year 2009
Investors in the construction of the station JSC RusHydro and UC RUSAL were instructed by the Government of the Russian Federation to accelerate the commissioning of power units of the Boguchanskaya HPP in the Krasnoyarsk Territory in order to replace the capacities of the Sayano-Shushenskaya HPP, temporarily lost as a result of the accident that occurred in Khakassia on August 17, 2009. The phased launch of 9 hydroelectric units of the Boguchanskaya HPP with an installed capacity of 3000 MW will provide electricity to consumers of the United Energy System (IPS) of Siberia and will create the necessary reserve capacity to cope with peak loads in the winter.
2010
In July 2010, the Supervisory Board of the Vnesheconobank state corporation approved the provision of financing for the completion of the Boguchanskaya HPP and the first stage of the Boguchansky aluminum smelter, part of the Boguchansky Energy and Metallurgical Association (BEMO), for a total amount of 50 billion rubles. 28.1 billion rubles were allocated for the construction of the hydroelectric power station, and the equivalent of 21.9 billion rubles in US dollars for the construction of the plant. The loan period for completing construction of BoGES is 16 years, BoAZ is 14 years.
On December 1, 2010, OJSC Boguchanskaya HPP and the state corporation Bank for Development and Foreign Economic Affairs (Vnesheconombank) entered into an agreement providing for the allocation of loan funds to finance the completion of the Boguchanskaya HPP, which is part of the Boguchansky Energy and Metallurgical Association (BEMO). JSC RusHydro acts as a guarantor under this loan agreement. The transaction was approved by the extraordinary General Meeting of Shareholders of JSC RusHydro on October 22, 2010.
2011
In April 2011, the formation of the thermal circuit of the turbine room from the installation site to HA No. 5 was completed. The formed thermal circuit creates all the necessary conditions for the further installation of hydraulic units of the launch complex in any weather conditions. The building is heated by 28 EK-42P electric heaters with a power of 42 kW each.
In July 2011, OJSC Boguchanskaya HPP received the status of a wholesale market entity. Obtaining the status of a wholesale market entity will allow Boguchanskaya HPP OJSC, after commissioning, to independently sell electricity and capacity on the wholesale market, including concluding long-term bilateral agreements with large consumers and energy sales companies. Previously, Boguchanskaya HPP OJSC also became a member of the Market Council Non-Commercial Partnership.
In September 2011, a multi-year transport operation for the delivery of large, heavy cargo to the hydroelectric power station was completed - the impellers of units No. 8 and 9 and several transformers were delivered. At the same time, the operation to fill the construction pit in the downstream of the station began, and a few days later the first two temporary bottom holes were blocked.
In October of the same year, after completion of construction and installation work, installation of 220 and 500 kV switchgear equipment began. The rockfill dam was built to a height of 202 meters along its entire length. Based on the results of work in 2011, the station's rock-fill and concrete dam, the main hydraulic power and hydromechanical equipment of the first three units are completely ready for the start of filling the reservoir and the first stage of the station's launch.
year 2012
In the first ten days of May 2012, after closing the last bottom holes, the filling of the Boguchansky reservoir begins. Design, Survey and Scientific Research Institute Gidroproekt named after. S.A. Zhuk, Gidrospetsproekt Institute, research institutes NIIES, VNIIG named after. B.E. Vedeneeva, a branch of the Institute Gidroproekt TsSGNEO and other organizations conduct regular inspections of the condition of the concrete rock-fill dam, buildings and structures of the hydroelectric power station.
On September 25, 2012, a program of idle testing of systems and equipment of hydraulic unit No. 2 was launched, and on October 1, testing of hydraulic unit No. 1 began. On October 15, at the command of Russian President Vladimir Putin, the first two units were connected to the network, and on October 25, GA No. 3 was switched on.
At the end of November 2012, Boguchanskaya HPP OJSC received permission from the Yenisei Department of the Federal Service for Environmental, Technological and Nuclear Supervision (Rostechnadzor) to allow power plants to operate.
On December 1, 2012, the hydroelectric power station began supplying electricity to the wholesale market.
year 2013
Unit No. 4 was put into commercial operation on January 21, unit No. 5 on November 5, unit No. 6 on December 6, 2013.
In February 2013, the Yenisei Department of the Federal Service for Environmental, Technological and Nuclear Supervision issued Boguchanskaya HPP JSC a conclusion on the compliance of the first stage of construction of the Boguchanskaya HPP with the requirements of technical regulations and design documentation. This means that the construction of the facility was carried out in strict compliance with all modern norms and regulations based on the principles of technical and environmental safety. The conclusion was issued based on the results of inspections carried out by Rostechnadzor in December 2012 and February 2013. The first stage of construction of the hydroelectric power station included the commissioning of hydraulic units with station numbers 1, 2 and 3 with a total capacity of 1000 megawatts, as well as the construction of buildings, structures and installation of equipment necessary for this.
Based on the conclusion of the Yenisei Department of Rostechnadzor, the administration of the Kezhemsky District of the Krasnoyarsk Territory issued Boguchanskaya HPP OJSC permission to put the facilities of the first stage of HPP construction into operation. The received permit allows Boguchanskaya HPP OJSC to register the station as a property in the Federal Service for State Registration, Cadastre and Cartography (Rosreestr).
year 2014
Pre-launch tests of units No. 7 and 8 with connection to the network for 72 hours were completed in July 2014. The application to begin testing unit No. 9 was submitted in September 2014.
In 2014, Rostechnadzor permits were obtained for the fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh stages of construction, which includes the service and production building (SPC), which houses the Central Station Control Panel, hydraulic units No. 6, No. 7, No. 8 and No. 9. In total, in order to obtain permission to put the entire hydroelectric power station into commercial operation and bring the station to its design capacity of 3000 MW, Boguchanskaya HPP OJSC must obtain Rostekhnadzor’s conclusions on the last – eighth stage of the station’s construction.
In the first months of operation, the station generated about 8 million kWh per day or about 250 million kWh per month. The energy went mainly to consumers in the Kezhemsky and Boguchansky districts, who immediately felt an increase in the reliability of power supply - before that, for 30 years, energy was supplied through an old power line with wooden poles from the Irkutsk region. In the summer, these supports often burned out, which is why Kodinsk was often left without electricity. In March 2013, the Boguchanskaya HPP produced its billionth kilowatt, and in December – its 5 billionth. At the end of July 2014, meters recorded a production of 10 billion, at the end of 2014 it exceeded 14 billion. In June 2014, the station produced 984.67 million kWh (in June 2013 - 294 million kWh); in the first half of 2014 - 4 billion 242 million kWh (for the same period in 2013 - 1 billion 623 million kWh). The increase in output is due to the filling of the reservoir to the level of 204 m and the commissioning of the next facilities of the power delivery scheme. All nine hydraulic units have been put into operation at the station. The last hydraulic unit with station number No. 9 was launched on December 22, 2014.
After a year of operation, the first units of the station underwent a major overhaul. The main objective of the work, which lasted 43 days, was to assess the condition of the hydraulic turbine unit and generator after a year of operation at starting pressures (185-188 m instead of the design 208 m).
Based on the results of the 3rd quarter of 2014, Boguchanskaya HPP once again took second place in the rating “Generating companies - efficiency in the market”, which was compiled by the Non-profit partnership “Market Council for organizing an effective system of wholesale and retail trade in electrical energy and capacity” (NP “Market Council "). The high result was achieved due to the second place in the interim ranking, which assessed the specific cost of producing 1 MWh of electrical energy and the specific profit per 1 MWh of output. The rating’s compilers noted an increase in the station’s performance in the “Equipment Readiness for Operation” category, which reflects the extent to which the generating company maintains the equipment in working condition.
Angara. One of the most amazing rivers in Russia, the only one flowing from Baikal to flow into the Yenisei after almost 1,800 km. With a length that is not the greatest for Russian rivers, it starts from the lake at an altitude of 486 meters, towards the Yenisei dropping to 76,380 meters of drop, more than a kilometer wide in the upper reaches, where the Angara carries 1,855 cubic meters of water per second, per year it brings 143 to the Yenisei cubic kilometers of water.
A cubic kilometer, so you don’t get confused with zeros, is a billion cubic meters. It has been clear for quite a long time that behind all these figures there is a huge hydropower potential, information about which began to be received at the end of the century before last, during the design and construction of the Trans-Siberian Railway. But the results of these studies in the Russian Empire were never summarized; this was done only after the October Revolution, when the GOELRO Commission was already in full swing.
Evolution of projects
In 1920, this Commission received a memorandum "Water forces of the Angara and the possibility of their use". Yes, the development of energy equipment was just beginning then, but the authors of this note were confident that the 11 hydroelectric power stations that they considered possible to build on the Angara could provide Soviet Russia with 2 GW of electricity - a huge amount for those times. But these projects were not included in the GOELRO plan, since then it was more important to ensure the electrification of the European part of our country. In Russia, even now, a little more than 20 million people live “on the other side of the Urals”, and in the early 20s – even less. But the planned economy, although slowly, was concentrating - in the 30s, research on the Angara continued. By 1936, the State Planning Committee approved “working hypothesis for the integrated use of the Angara”. But the matter did not have time to move beyond the hypothesis - the Great Patriotic War came to the country.
Angara River on the map of Russia, Fig.: geographyofrussia.com
A new scheme for the development of the productive forces of the Irkutsk region was presented in 1947 during a specially assembled conference. Now, according to the designers, it could be a cascade of 6 hydroelectric power stations: Irkutsk, Sukhovskaya, Telminskaya, Bratskaya, Ust-Ilimskaya and Boguchanskaya. The attentive reader probably noticed the emphasized “facelessness” of the conference title. There is neither the adjective “all-Union”, which was usual for those times, nor any specifics regarding what “productive forces” we were talking about... Yes, that’s right - we were talking about our atomic project, which in 1947 had an exclusively military-defensive character . All six hydroelectric power stations were conceived specifically for it - after all, our “atomic Needle” had not yet been invented, and therefore all this sea of electricity had to be used to supply gas-diffusion plants for uranium enrichment. But while the feasibility studies for the hydroelectric power station were being created, in the city of Leningrad, far from Eastern Siberia, a simple engineer Viktor Sergeev was working on an invention that changed the entire world nuclear project - a centrifuge. As we know, his experiments ended in complete success, and this invention “freed” the planned cascade of hydroelectric power stations for peaceful sectors of our economy. One person, one invention - and the fate of the vast Siberian region became completely different.
In 1959, the construction of the first Angarsk hydroelectric power station, the Irkutsk one, was completed. 660 MW of installed power generation capacity, average annual output - 4,100 million kWh - the Siberian unified energy system was growing rapidly. 1966 - the Bratsk Hydroelectric Power Station was put into operation with its 4,500 MW of installed capacity and 22,600 million kW*hours. 1979 - the Ust-Ilimsk hydroelectric power station came into operation, with 3,840 MW of installed capacity and another 21,700 million kW*hours. The Angara gradually turned into a cascade of reservoirs - Irkutsk, Bratsk, Ust-Ilimsk.
A group of Komsomol members at the bridge to block the Angara. Construction of the Bratsk hydroelectric power station. 1959. Photo: M. Mineev, RGAKFD, energymuseum.ru
Why, despite the fact that the Ministry of Defense no longer needed such a breakthrough of electricity to enrich uranium, did these construction projects go on, and even were all-Union, shock-producing? Those who are older probably remember how romantic all these power plants were, with what enthusiasm the youth of that time were eager to work there, with what pride the students in those days wore construction brigade jackets with the badges of Bratsk and Ust-Ilimsk. Nothing secret - the uranium problem was solved, but the Cold War and the arms race did not stop. The defense industry needed aluminum, a lot of aluminum, the production of which was and remains perhaps the most energy-intensive of all that exists in the manufacturing industry. In the 1960s, two of the world's largest aluminum smelters were opened in Bratsk and Krasnoyarsk, and the source of raw materials for them was the Achinsk Alumina Refinery, built in 1970 here in the Krasnoyarsk Territory. From the moment of their commissioning, the Angarsk hydroelectric power stations were connected with aluminum into a single, as they said then, national economic complex. Siberian hydroelectric power stations and aluminum production are not Siamese twins, but they are certainly brothers. And the events of recent years show that kindred feelings have not gone away, but first things first.
Boguchany and Kodinskaya Zaimka
The USSR State Planning Commission refused the Sukhovskaya and Telminskaya hydroelectric power stations, but not the Boguchanskaya hydroelectric power station. At the beginning of 1971, the Central Committee of the CPSU and the Council of Ministers decided by their resolution that the Boguchanskaya hydroelectric power station would be built. The resolution, of course, did not appear out of nowhere. The search for a suitable site on the Angara began back in 1965, and the first site, which seemed successful to geologists and hydrologists, was located in the Boguchansky district of the Krasnoyarsk Territory. But in 1971, after quite heated debates and comparison of options, a new site was chosen - near the village of Kodinskaya Zaimka in the Kezhemsky district. The location was changed, but the name was kept, so there is some slight confusion - the Boguchanskaya hydroelectric power station was built near Kodinskaya Zaimka. The technical design carried out by Gidroproekt was approved on December 7, 1979. 3,000 MW of power, normal headwater level - 208 meters, launch of the first hydraulic units was scheduled for 1988, completion of construction - for 1992. There was quite enough aluminum, the USSR already allowed itself to export 15% of what was produced - that’s why no one was in a hurry. In 1979, no one could have imagined that there were only 7 years left before the “era of glasnost and perestroika” and approximately the same amount of time for normal construction financing.
Start
In October 1974, the first landing party arrived at the station site - BratskGESstroy specialists liberated from the just completed Ust-Ilimsk hydroelectric power station. Preparatory work began with access roads and temporary power lines. A standard sounding phrase, isn't it? But, if we are talking about 58 degrees north latitude and an area where there have never been roads for cars, not to mention trains, you cannot say this without wondering what is behind these words.
Road, Photo: priangarka.rf
There were no roads around Kodinskaya Zaimka, along which heavy equipment could pass, along which hundreds of thousands of tons of cargo had to be brought, and heavy construction equipment could be delivered. But there were peat bogs and lenses of permafrost, giving way to rocky areas and impenetrable taiga. The nearest large settlement was Sedanovo, which was 250 km away, and the road to it in those parts was then called the “road of life.”
Layout of the future construction site and access roads on the left bank of the Angara, Photo: travel.drom.ru
23 bridges over rivers and streams, more than a hundred culverts, an intermediate village on the highway - with a hotel, a canteen, and a gas station. And they managed to finish this road only by 1982, and the power line to Sedanovo became permanent only by 1980, since not only did they have to cut a clearing through the taiga, but there the installation of each support was a serious operation.
Birth of Kodinsk
In 1977, construction began on the city of power engineers - Kodinsk. A young city that, in its short biography, has survived four general secretaries, the first and last Soviet president, and has now lived to see the third Russian one. The collapse of the Union, default, crisis and Chubais are big stages along the way. Kodinsk grew not only due to the arrival of hydraulic builders, but residents of villages who were about to go under the water of the Boguchansky Reservoir were resettled there. Kodinsk has become a regional center, where almost 15 thousand people live today.
Simultaneously with the main construction, 13 km to the side, and most importantly, more than 200 meters above sea level, the first houses and bases were built in the new city of Kodinsk, Photo: travel.drom.ru
The first years - with diesel power plants that worked on schedule, because there were few of them, they were delivered only along the winter road, when the road turned to stone in 50-degree frosts. Houses made of logs in two layers, the gap between which was filled with sawdust from frost, saved only with an almost round-the-clock burning stove, amenities in the yard, a bathhouse twice a week... In general, the romance and everyday life of taiga construction projects, which began to end only in 1982, when the road from Sedanovo started working at full capacity. But construction organizations were ready for this event. 1982 - 26 thousand square meters of already comfortable housing, a hospital, a potato storage facility and treatment facilities for all this. For the next 1983, for one year - 76,000 sq. m of housing, dormitories for 2,100 places, four kindergartens and a school. That's it, Kodinskaya Zaimka has finally and irrevocably become Kodinsk. Four kindergartens are strong evidence that the construction was for youth, you will agree. And the fact that these young people demanded from the authorities the construction of... a ski slope, in our opinion, suggests that all the fables about continuous drunkenness at such construction sites are just fables.
"Olympic" start
The construction of the hydroelectric power station itself began in 1980, the Olympic year, and the start was very vigorous, since they managed to build a concrete plant even before the road became permanent. The first cubic meter of earth was removed from the pit of the future hydroelectric power station in the summer of 1980, the first cubic meter of concrete went into the body of the dam in April 1982, the 100,000th in 1984, and in 1987 the builders lived to see one of the most exciting moments - the Angara was blocked.
Solemn moment – 100,000th cube of concrete , Photo: travel.drom.ru
1987 Completion of work on covering the Angara. One of the most emotional moments of construction , Photo: travel.drom.ru
The scale of construction in the mid-80s could only be assessed from rare footage taken from a helicopter:
At the turn of the 80s and 90s. Panorama of the construction site with a completely covered Angara, when a lot of concrete has already been laid, the first tower cranes for high-rise work have been installed , Photo: travel.drom.ru
But while the workers were building housing and city buildings, the concrete part of the dam, a concrete plant, setting up a quarry for a rock-fill dam, laying clearings for new power lines, making permanent roads, completely different work was going on in the high offices. In 1987, the completion of construction was postponed to 1993, in 1988 - to 1994... If the builders had slowed down the pace of work, the Boguchanskaya HPP would never have been completed. Since 1984, the planned volume of concrete began to be laid in the body of the dam - 140 thousand cubic meters per year, the volume of earth and rock work increased to 6 million cubic meters per year, installation of metal structures - up to 2,000 tons per year. And, as if in between, a small airfield was also built - whatever you say, the planned economy was sometimes miraculously good. Are there many examples in the new Russia when a town with a population of 15 thousand people builds its own airport? No, of course, it’s a stretch to call Kodinsk’s “airport” such, but there is a runway, and communication with the “mainland” has become much more convenient. Prices for air travel then and now are, of course, a separate conversation, but there are potential opportunities for the active development of the city and the surrounding area.
The darkness of the nineties
Soviet power ended, but the tradition of “extending” construction by a year every year has not disappeared. But new things also appeared - regular trips of construction managers to Moscow, “extorting” and begging for money. The pace that the builders maintained until the end of the 80s led to an amazing result - even to mothball the construction, but to maintain what had already been done in normal condition, millions of rubles were required. The length of the rock-fill dam is 1,861 meters, the length of the concrete dam is another 829 meters, turbine water conduits were already ready in the concrete part. Of course, the team of thousands of builders was “withering away” before our eyes, the romance of the great construction project was replaced by the prose of salaries with yearly delays and their payment in felt boots and gray pasta. But not everyone left. As popular Jewish wisdom says, “in every barrel of shit there is always room for a spoonful of jam” - there was nowhere to go, the same picture reigned in all cities and villages of Russia in the 90s. And those who remained maintained the unfinished construction in perfect order, continuing to dream that this stop, this abomination of desolation, would not last forever, that the time would come when everything would come to life again.
For the budget of the Krasnoyarsk Territory, BoGES turned into a black hole in which funding disappeared without any hope of return. Yes, letters were written “to the top”, meetings were held somewhere, someone said something. In 1994, for example, a whole decree of the Government of the Russian Federation was issued stating that the construction would be completed in 1997, but they forgot to allocate money for construction. There were just enough of them then to avoid a man-made disaster. In 1998, after the default, BoGES was declared bankrupt, and this turned the situation almost completely - out of the 6,000 specialists remaining at the construction site, more than 5,000 left in search of at least some prospects. It seemed that the construction site would die completely, but slowly, with a heavy gait, a new time was coming to Russia.
In 2003, the country’s economy began to increasingly show signs of life, and the then governor of the Krasnoyarsk Territory, Alexander Khloponin, sensitively perceiving who was now in charge of RAO UES of Russia and what the prevailing mood was, turned to the government with a proposal to find a private investor to complete the construction.
In April 2005, Russian Presidential Decree No. 412 came into force “On measures for the socio-economic development of the Krasnoyarsk Territory, Taimyr and Evenki Autonomous Okrugs”, in the first part of which the government of the Russian Federation was instructed to provide state assistance in ensuring the start of operation of the BoHPP and preparation for filling the reservoir. The 2004 assessment showed that the BoGES was built at 58% - there was not much left for the future investor, but he just had to be able to calculate what “not so much” meant in monetary terms. Then something began to happen that, from the point of view of common sense, raises huge doubts about the expediency of what happened. However, judge for yourself.
New times - new plans
By November 2005, the draft program for the integrated development of the Lower Angara region was completed and sent for consideration to the Russian government. Krasnoyarsk residents believed that by 2010 the first capacities of the BoGES, an aluminum plant in Kodinsk, a pulp and paper mill in the Boguchansky district should have been launched, and the construction of the Karabula-Boguchan-Kodinsk railway line should have been completed. Alexander Khloponin called this project “New industrialization of Siberia”, and he was right - the cost of the program was estimated at $22 billion, which was available in the Investment Fund. The program was not “quick”; in fact, the plans of the Soviet period were resuscitated; everything was very well thought out.
By the mid-2000s, the construction site no longer looked so lifeless, and there was very little left before the real push to resume construction
But back in early 2004, I became interested in the project to complete the construction of the BoHPP. Basic element Oleg Deripaska, linking with him his own project for the construction of an aluminum smelter in the region. Moreover, it turned out that interest appeared where before - to companies affiliated with Mermaid, by that time it was possible to buy up about 30% of the shares of BoGES. Rusal offered to help finance the construction of a hydroelectric power station in exchange for a controlling stake - at that time he understood a private-state project only in this way, and in no other way. The state, for its part, did not want to engage in such charity. According to experts hired Mermaid the cost of everything on the river was... 60 million dollars.
It took some time for experts to appear on the scene HydroOGK- this was the current name at that time RusHydro. Their valuation turned out to be somewhat different - 1.1 billion. Because of this, the offer of Oleg Deripaska, who was not against buying additional shares to a controlling stake for $15 million, did not cause anything but smiles. After much debate, the parties came to an agreement - the Boguchansky hydroelectric power station and the Boguchansky aluminum smelter became two parts of one project. Boguchany Energy and Metallurgical Association, BEMO, has two owners, each of whom owns exactly 50% of the shares - Rusal And RusHydro.
The final approval of all positions took place in October 2006, from that moment the parties began to look for sources of financing. The cost of building the plant was estimated at 1 billion dollars, the cost of launching the BoHPP was 1.4 billion. VEB undertook to finance the construction of the timber processing plant, and the state financed the road infrastructure. Hydroelectric power stations, aluminum, roads and forests are quite enough, but to call these 4 areas “comprehensive” development of the Krasnoyarsk Territory?.. Of the 70 metals actively used by mankind, 63 deposits have been discovered in the Krasnoyarsk Territory: lead, copper, iron ores, niobium, cobalt, zinc , silver, gold, magnesite, manganese, antimony, not to mention oil and gas. And the program includes only bauxite. Calling a spade a spade, the complex program was immediately thrown into the trash. It is quite possible that in the current market time, production of all of the above in this region is simply not profitable? It cannot be ruled out, but no one has conducted any research on this matter.
The development of forest resources in the Krasnoyarsk Territory is so obvious that it was simply impossible to “pass by”, and there was also Rusal– that’s what we limited ourselves to. But to answer the question “Why do we need a private investor?” try to answer yourself. Let us only recall that the cost of construction of the Boguchansky aluminum smelter was estimated at exactly 1 billion, which the state did not look for in the bins, preferring to give this part of the program into the hands of a private owner. Yes, purely as a reference. The territory of the Lower Angara region includes the Yenisei, Boguchansky, Kezhemsky, Motyginsky and North Yenisei districts of the Krasnoyarsk Territory. The total territory is 260 thousand sq. km, the population is 230 thousand people, mainly due to cities and large towns. Yeniseisk (18,000 people), Lesosibirsk (60,000), Kodinsk (16,000) another 30 thousand people live in regional centers. However, the fate of the first such large public-private project in Russia deserves separate consideration, but for now let’s return to the story about the Boguchanskaya HPP.
After RusHydro And Rusal We clarified all the relationships, tried to most carefully distribute areas of responsibility and the volume of our financial participation, and the construction came to life.
"Small" details of a huge dam
The dam of the Boguchanskaya HPP consists of two parts - the rock-fill part adjoins the right bank, and the concrete part goes towards it from the left bank. The volume of the poured stone is 35 million cubic meters or, for clarity, 12 pyramids of Cheops. The width of the stone part of the dam at the base is 215 meters, at the crest 20 meters, height - 212 meters, of which only 77 are now visible above the water. The first part of a series of articles Geoenergetics, dedicated to hydroelectric power plants, if you remember, was called "The Great Pyramids of Our Era", and we are sure that we were not mistaken with this name.
The thickness of the asphalt concrete diaphragm at the base is 4 meters, at the crest it becomes very miniature - only 80 cm. The concrete part consists of 34 sections separated by hydrothermal joints. 10 blind sections ensure the adjoining of the dam to the left bank, the next 9 are station sections, 9 sections of two spillways and the remaining five are adjoining the rock-fill dam. The height of the concrete structure from the base to the crest is 214 meters, of which 96 are above water, the total volume of concrete was 2.7 million cubic meters. If we call modern hydropower engineers “the heirs of the builders of the great pyramids,” then it is impossible to divide them into “Soviet” and “post-Soviet” - the volume of work done is distributed almost equally. So let me record it as a fact: no, we have not forgotten how to build complex hydraulic structures, we knew how and are able to do it, no matter what tales all kinds of media and people from the blogosphere tell about this. Yes, as for concrete work, records for its implementation were recorded in 2010 - up to 1,100 cubic meters were poured into the body of the dam.
Of course, in our time, a completely different technique was used than that which was in use in the 80s of the last century, but Russia is not particularly proud of this.
Construction of the Boguchanskaya HPP, Photo: Mikhail Vasev, travel.drom.ru
BelAZs were assembled in Bratsk so as not to drive them along the roads of Russia, but now Belarus is considered a foreign country for us. Well, or almost abroad - here whoever likes it more.
Transportation of equipment – ready-made scenes for Hollywood
But as for the hydraulic units themselves, everything is in perfect order. The agreement with Power Machines was signed already in 2006, and all 9 products were created in St. Petersburg, and their delivery to BoGES deserves a separate novel. 6,500 km - through Lakes Ladoga and Onega, along the White Sea Canal they reached the Northern Sea Route, from the mouth of the Yenisei on barges they were brought to the Angara, unloaded and “rolled” along a specially built railway track into the turbine room.
September 2008 Unloading of the first impeller at the pier , Photo: Mikhail Vasev, travel.drom.ru
The dimensions of the wheel turned out to be a record for Russia - 7.5 meters in diameter. The crane you see here has a lifting capacity of 525 tons, the second boom is its twin brother, since the wheel weighs almost 1,000 tons.
Here you can clearly see what these wheels are, since they can be compared with the people working on its installation:
Installation of Hydraulic Unit No. 1 , Photo: Mikhail Vasev, travel.drom.ru
Transformers were manufactured in a city whose name we now hear for completely different information reasons - in Mariupol, and for them the journey into the depths of Siberian ores was even more colorful, since they got to Lake Onega along the Don and the Volga. The travel of such large and heavy cargo along such a route continues to await its chroniclers, and it will be a great shame if they never appear.
With the advent of funding, housing construction began again, Kodinsk became more and more like a quarter of an ordinary metropolis, in which kindergartens, hospitals, and schools were again built.
Kodinsk, central part, Photo: Mikhail Vasev, travel.drom.ru
But the dashing 90s made their presence felt - construction had to be expanded to full capacity at the expense of guest workers from what was once our southern republics and even from Turkey. Of course, a native of the Adriatic coast laying rebar at -50 at a 100-meter altitude is funny, but why he and his fellow countrymen arrived there on a tourist visa is a question that sounded alarming from the lips of inspectors in 2009. New contractors arrived, and construction took on an increasingly business-like appearance.
Crises, loans - problems of our time
RusHydro And Rusal It was difficult to work with each other, there were problems with delays in salaries, and with the fact that the purchase of materials and equipment was delayed and late. The crisis of 2008, when construction nearly stopped again, reconciled the rival colleagues. World prices for aluminum fell, and debt immediately increased Rusala to finance work at the BoHPP - but his ambitions sharply decreased, which allowed the two co-owners to establish a normal rhythm of work. But financing problems were again solved by the state - this time in the person of Vnesheconombank. In the summer of 2010, the bank provided a loan to complete the BEMO project: 28.1 billion rubles for the completion of the construction of a hydroelectric power station and 21.9 billion rubles for the construction of an aluminum smelter. The guarantor of the loan issued by the state bank was the state corporation RusHydro. Sorry, but we are again forced to repeat the rhetorical question: what is the point of the presence of a private corporation in this project?..
The giant comes into operation
In the first ten days of May 2012, filling of the reservoir of the Boguchanskaya HPP began. Work to clean up the flood zone and resettle almost 7,000 more residents of submerged villages was financed by the state; another 34 billion rubles were spent on this. The water was rising, approaching the working mark, and the entire team of builders, installers, engineers, contractors and subcontractors only increased the pace. Concrete work on the drains was being completed, more and more new hydraulic units were being installed, a complete switchgear and an open switchgear were being built, power distribution systems were being installed at the substation and on power lines, and asphalt work began on the future road along the dam crest. Excuse me for such details, but construction projects in the energy sector of such a scale are still rare in modern Russia, so let’s be honest – we are proud that we have the right to list all the stages like this, separated by commas and in one sentence. And we’re simply tired of the endless string of stories that there are no positive examples in Russia that our potential is about to dry up. Give it up! We all can and do, we just need to learn how to set up the organization of such projects properly.
People who are building hydroelectric power stations, Photo: Mikhail Vasev, travel.drom.ru
On October 15, 2012, the first two hydraulic units of the Boguchanskaya HPP were launched; the “Start” command was given by President Vladimir Putin during a video conference. On October 25 of the same year, the third hydraulic unit was launched - this is how hydraulic builders celebrated the 25th anniversary of the closure of the Angara. The next day, the general director of BoGES presented memorable gifts and certificates of honor right in the plant’s turbine room, to the hum of operating units and against the backdrop of the rotor of one of the next ones being installed. All you see behind people’s backs is a piece of a rotor...
Installation of the impeller, Photo: Mikhail Vasev, travel.drom.ru
But here is a general view of the turbine hall, which is 331 meters long and 29 meters wide, but it is impossible to place 9 hydroelectric units with a capacity of 333 MW each in a smaller area. With the onset of 2013, more and more specialists arrived in Boguchany, who, we hope, RusHydro includes equipment installers who at that time had just commissioned another Soviet long-term construction project, the Bureyskaya HPP, among its gold reserves. Installation, testing at idle, again checking and debugging the noticed problems, testing under load - and so one after another in 2013, all the remaining hydraulic units were put into operation. At the same time, the last concrete work was completed, including on the stepped drainage - this method of damping the energy of water flow was used for the first time in Russia. The engineers' calculations turned out to be accurate - half the force of the impact splashes along these half-meter steps, the rest of the energy is absorbed by the water well, made of concrete. Without such precautions, the flow of water could over time wash away a huge hole in the tailwater, violating the safety of the entire dam.
Stepped drainage of the Boguchanskaya hydroelectric power station, Photo: wikimedia.org
There is also a regular spillway here - 110 meters wide, when fully opened it is capable of passing through up to 7,000 cubic meters per second, a stepped spillway is designed for a maximum of 2,100 cubic meters of water. With such a throughput capacity, the Boguchanskaya HPP is not afraid of either floods or water discharges from dams located upstream of the Angara.
Boguchanskaya HPP, Photo: Mikhail Vasev, travel.drom.ru, rushydro.ru
At the beginning of 2014, all nine hydraulic units were inspected and accepted into operation by the state commission. If we count the start of construction from the moment the first construction team arrives at the site, it turns out that RusHydro managed to complete the longest construction project in history – 40 years. Let’s face it, the period is incredible, but this is where all the “backgrounds” of Soviet times ended. Of course, the fact that in our time it was possible to successfully complete such a grandiose project cannot but rejoice and inspire confidence that our power engineers are able to cope with the energy supply of Russia itself and the “surrounding territories”. All that is missing is skillful organization of the process, and our professionals will do their job. We will continue to talk about how and what happens with planning and organizing the construction of new generating capacities, using electricity from already commissioned stations, in the next articles of this series.
Thanks to Mikhail Vasev (Krasnoyarsk) for unique photographs.
Photo: travel.drom.ru
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Not long ago, I witnessed an impressive event - the testing of surface spillway No. 2, which has a stepped design that is unique for Russian hydropower. Frankly, I had never seen an open spillway at such massive stations before, so for me this event turned out to be doubly interesting. Today I will show you photos of the spillway in action, as well as give you a short tour of the station itself.
1. We arrived at the station the day before the start of the tests, so I had the opportunity to film a little of the hydroelectric power station itself. The station is already fully operational. Except that they didn’t manage to build a public road along the ridge of the station and in some places there are still cabins.
The Boguchanskaya HPP is an epic Soviet long-term construction project, the construction of which began in 1974. The first units were put into operation on October 15, 2012. The last ninth hydraulic unit was put into commercial operation on December 22, 2014. The reservoir was filled to the design level only on June 17 of this year, just after this moment it became possible to test surface spillway No. 2.
2. Main view of the station.
2. Boguchanskaya hydroelectric power station closes the Angarsk cascade of hydroelectric power stations. BoGES included in the list of the largest hydroelectric power stations in Russia. Its capacity is 2997 MW, annual electricity production is 17600 million kWh. The station is located in remote, harsh regions with short summers and cold winters (the recorded minimum is minus 60C). To get to the station I had to make two flights - first to Krasnoyarsk, and then on a small plane to Kodinsk.
Boguchanskaya HPP is the largest hydropower construction facility in Eastern Siberia and Russia as a whole. The completion of the hydroelectric power station is of great importance for the economic development of the Lower Angara region and the Siberian economic region; The construction of the power plant and accompanying network infrastructure is included in the first stage of the state program “Comprehensive Development of the Lower Angara Region.” OJSC Boguchanskaya HPP is controlled through offshore companies OJSC RusHydro and Rusal on a parity basis.
3. One of the autotransformers located in special chambers in the front part of the SPK building. The weight of this colossus is 141 tons.
3. Machine room with 9 hydraulic units, each with a capacity of 333 MW.
4. The first thing that catches your eye in the turbine hall is cleanliness. Everything shines, you can walk barefoot and not get dirty. The length of the turbine hall is 331 meters.
5. Let's go down one level. The photo shows the generator rotor rotating at a speed of 90.91 rpm.
7. Even lower is the turbine shaft. There are servomotors here that rotate the blades of the guide vane.
10. Power is supplied at voltages of 220 and 500 kV through closed-type switchgear (insulated gas switchgear). From block transformers located in the hydroelectric power station building. Electricity is supplied from generators to 6 phases of autotransformers.
11. GIS is much more compact and safer than outdoor switchgear (open switchgear).
12. The length of the Boguchanskaya hydroelectric power station is 2,960 meters, of which the rock-fill dam occupies 1,961.3 m. The highest height of the entire dam is 96 meters. In the rockfill section this parameter is 77m.
13. The total volume of soil required to form a rockfill dam is about 30.5 million cubic meters.
14. To prevent water from leaking through the stones, a diaphragm made of cast asphalt concrete is used in a rockfill dam.
15. Service transport.
16. A public road will be built along these “triangles” from one bank to the other.
18. The calm before the storm.
19. The beginning of a new day. The spillway will be opened today!
20. And here is the spillway itself. To allow excess water flow through, the Boguchanskaya HPP has two spillways. One is bottom and the second is surface. The surface spillway has a stepped structure, which is unique for Russian hydropower.
21. Unfortunately, only one gate per meter was opened for us. But still the spectacle was impressive. It’s hard to imagine what happened here when all 5 were fully opened.
22. The water distributed its flow almost evenly over the entire spillway area.
24. The spillway is designed for use during periods of extreme floods, which occur once every thousand years. Therefore, perhaps, if no more tests are carried out, we will no longer see it in action.
25. View from the dam crest.
26. Closing the spillway.
27. Finally, a photo of the station at dawn.
A report on the construction of a hydroelectric power station on the Angara River, in the city of Kodinsk, Kezhemsky district, Krasnoyarsk Territory.
The Boguchanskaya station, part of the Angarsk cascade of hydroelectric power stations, is a large Soviet long-term construction project - the first preparatory work was carried out back in the mid-70s. Due to funding cuts, the construction of the hydroelectric power station was greatly delayed, and only in 2006 the work was resumed.
1. Boguchanskaya HPP is the largest hydropower construction facility in Eastern Siberia and Russia. The completion of the hydroelectric power station is of great importance for the development of the Lower Angara region and the Siberian economic region as a whole. More than half of the electricity generated by the hydroelectric power station is planned to be used at the aluminum smelter under construction.
2. Panorama of the tailwater.
In the late 1980s, the hydroelectric power plant project was sharply criticized by environmentalists, who had great public support at the time. In the early 1990s, due to the difficult economic situation, accompanied by a decline in energy consumption, the construction of hydroelectric power stations largely lost its meaning.
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3. The construction of hydroelectric power stations was actually frozen from 1994 to 2005 due to a lack of funds. In 2004, the readiness of hydroelectric power station structures was 58%.
4. Over a long period of construction, a whole fleet of tower cranes has been assembled to suit every taste.
6. Fragments of formwork.
7. Grates that will protect hydraulic units and filter water from various debris.
8. The scale of the structure is impressive.
9. Now the Angara flows through five tunnels of the bottom spillway.
10. Panorama of the upper pool. After a winter visit, I thought that now it would be difficult to surprise me. It turned out - no)
11. The hydraulic structures of BoGES include a concrete gravity dam (height - 96 meters, length along the crest - 828) and a rockfill dam with an asphalt concrete diaphragm (height - 77 meters, length - 1861).
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14. Black stripe - formwork of asphalt-concrete diaphragm.
15. Station turbine room. Due to the economic recovery and growth in energy consumption, active discussions began on options for completing the construction of the hydroelectric power station. Currently, the launch of the first hydraulic units of the hydroelectric power station is scheduled for April 2012, commissioning at full capacity - in 2013.
16. Based on the size of standard fire extinguishers, you can judge the size of these studs...
17. 575 cubic meters of water will pass through each hydraulic unit per second. For scale, Sasha stands at the turbine cover russos .
18.
20. Generator assembly.
22. Huge blades of the guide vane.
24. The back of the groove, the turbine cover with the inscription “Native” and journalists.
30. Workers and the dam.
33. The station will use two spillways - an upper stepped one.
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34. And the lower one - through ten oval tunnels.
36. In their free time, builders go fishing.
