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Kakhovkaya Dam

The structure of the Kakhovsky hydroelectric complex includes: an earth channel dam, a spillway dam (has 28 spillway spans), a HPP building with an installation site, an earthen dam between the lock and the HPP, a single-chamber navigable lock, an earthen flood dam, and an earthen superflood dam. Six vertical hydro units with a total installed capacity of 334.8 MW have been installed at Kakhovsky HPP. Turbines - rotary-blade type, manufactured by JSC "Turboatom" (Kharkov). Generators - synchronous type, with a voltage of 13.8 kV, manufactured by the State Enterprise "Electrovajmash" (Kharkov). The electrical network is composed of three "generator-transformer" blocks on two bus systems of a closed switchgear -154 kV.

The construction of the Kakhovka hydroelectric power station in the 1950s created the Kakhovka Reservoir, the largest in terms of water volume on the Dnieper, with a volume of 18.2 km3. Flow control is seasonal. The total length of the pressure front of the Kakhovsky hydraulic unit is 3,650 meters, and the flow capacity is 22,492 m3/s at a head of 16.0 m.

The chief engineer of Ukrhydroenergo, Vadym Rassovskyi, 24 February 2020 drew attention to the safety of dams. And there are seven of them on the balance sheet of Ukrhydroenergo: six on the Dnieper and one on the Dniester. They are in working condition, meet the project requirements and can fulfill their functional purpose in the specified modes.

"It is clear that dams are potentially dangerous structures. But from an engineering point of view, we have no doubts about their reliability. Special hydrotechnical divisions of hydroelectric power stations monitor the state of operation of dams every day. There is a regulation of observations, there is instrumental control, there are standards according to which the work is carried out. Once every five years, hydraulic structures are inspected by a specialized interdepartmental commission, which includes experts from various fields. The last such inspection was carried out in the summer of 2019. According to her conclusions, everything is fine with our dams," said the chief engineer, so there is no cause for concern.

Preparation for spring irrigation takes place every year, regardless of meteorologists' forecasts, and involves checking the reliability of hydromechanical equipment, valves, cranes, communications, transport, and the availability of an emergency stock of materials, spare parts, and tools. We also train people. Emergency teams of station employees have been created, which during training work out the procedure for liquidating the consequences of flooding, a joint action plan is being developed with the city and regional departments of the State Emergency Service and local authorities, and a schedule for maneuvering the floodgates of the spillway is being drawn up. After all measures have been taken, the readiness of the station is checked by a special commission and a document of readiness for flood relief is drawn up.

On September 20, 1950, a resolution of the Council of Ministers of the USSR adopted a decision on the construction of the Kakhov hydroelectric station and the North Crimean Canal. The first specialists for the construction of Kakhovskaya HPP arrived from Zaporizhzhia in October 1950. Subcontract construction and commissioning departments were immediately organized - "Hydromontazh", "Hydroelektromontazh", "Dnipro-specshydroenergomontazh", "Pivdensantekhmontazh", "Hydrospecsbud", "Hydromechanization".

The main equipment for the construction was supplied by the Kharkiv Turbine Plant, the Zaporizhzhya Transformer and Mechanical Plant, and the Elektrovazhmash plant. Project work was carried out by the Ukrainian branch of the "Hydroenergoproject" institute on the basis of a scheme for the integrated use of the lower Dnipro river with an installed design capacity of 312 MW, annual electricity production - 1400 million kWh and the creation of a reservoir with a surface area of 2155 km2 and a useful volume of 6.8 km3.

The scale of construction of the Kakhovskaya HPP was impressive: 1,100 vehicles, 30 excavators, 75 crawler and portal cranes, 100 bulldozers, 7 dredges and 14 steam locomotives were used on the site. The works were carried out by 12 thousand people of 19 nationalities - it was a large nationwide construction on a voluntary basis. More than 300 employees of Dniprobud were awarded high government awards for high production indicators and a significant contribution to the development and implementation of progressive work methods during the construction of the Kakhovskaya HPP.

The construction of the hydraulic unit lasted from 1951 to 1959 and was carried out by the special construction and installation department "Dniprobud" under the leadership of S. N. Andrianov and chief engineers P. A. Medvedev and P. S. Neporozhny. On October 18, 1955, the first hydro unit was commissioned at the Kakhovskaya HPP. Located on the Dnieper, the Kakhovskaya HPP started the cascade of Dnipro HPPs - it was built second after the Dnipro Hydroelectric Power Station and is its last step.

The construction of the Kakhovka hydraulic unit gave impetus to the emergence of the city of Nova Kakhovka and the construction of the South-Ukrainian and North-Crimean canals. On the basis of the created infrastructure, the social and economic development of the remote regions of the South of Ukraine accelerated and territorial and industrial complexes were created. Strategic road and railway bridge crossings pass through the water junction.

An important result of the construction of the Kakhovsky hydroelectric station was the provision of sustainable crop yields in the South of Ukraine, the development of animal husbandry and the improvement of navigation on the Dnieper. The commissioning of the Kakhovskaya HPP allowed to increase the capacity and improve the reliability of the Ukrainian energy system.

To ensure the reliability of the Kakhovskaya HPP dam, the station put into operation an automated system for monitoring the safety of hydrotechnical structures, which provides round-the-clock continuous control of the main indicators of the state of hydrotechnical objects. In 2019, the experts of the Specialized Interdepartmental Commission confirmed that the dam of the Kakhovskaya HPP is in working condition, meets the project requirements and can fulfill its functional purpose in the specified modes.

"It is clear that dams are potentially dangerous structures. But from an engineering point of view, we have no doubts about their reliability. Special hydrotechnical divisions of hydroelectric power stations monitor the state of operation of dams every day. There is a regulation of observations, there is instrumental control, there are standards according to which the work is carried out. Once every five years, hydraulic structures are inspected by a specialized interdepartmental commission, which includes experts from various fields. The last such inspection was carried out in the summer of 2019. According to her conclusions, everything is fine with our dams," said the chief engineer of Ukrhydroenergo, Vadym Rassovskyi,r, so there was no cause for concern.