Irkutsk Hydroelectric Power Plant

an electric power plant of the Angara Hydroelectric System, located at Irkutsk, 65 km from the source of the Angara River.

The Irkutsk Hydroelectric Power Plant has a capacity of 660 megawatts (660,000 kilowatts). Eight generating units have been installed with rotating-blade turbines and three-phase, hoodedtype generators. The average annual output of electric energy is 4.1 billion kilowatt-hours. Construction took place from 1950 to 1958. The hydroengineering complex includes a combined power plant building, an earth-fill dam with a total length of 2.5 km and a height of 44 m, and open 110-kilovolt and 220-kilovolt distributors. A highway runs along the crest of the dam. The hydraulic-engineering structures raise the mean water level in Lake Baikal, making it possible to use part of the lake volume as a reservoir for controlling flow over a period of years. The Irkutsk Hydroelectric Power Plant is part of the Unified Power Grid of Central Siberia and provides power to industry, railroad transportation, and other consumers of electricity in Irkutsk Oblast, RSFSR.