Saian-Shushenskaia Hydroelectric Power Plant

(also Saian Hydroelectric Power Plant), the largest hydroelectric power plant in the USSR, now (1975) under construction in the valley of the Enisei River, near the village of Maina, Khakass Autonomous Oblast, Kransnoiarsk Krai, RSFSR.

The plant’s projected capacity is 6,400 megawatts (MW), or 6.4 million kilowatts (kW). The average annual power production will be 23.8 billion kW-hr. The hydroengineering complex includes an arched gravity dam 242 m high with a crown length of 1,066 m, a building attached to the dam housing a hydroelectric power plant with ten units of 640 MW each, and a spillway with a stilling pool. The design head is 194 m. A lift lock may also be constructed. The dam creates a seasonally regulated water reservoir, with a total volume of 31.3 cu km and a usable volume of 15.3 cu km. Preparatory work on construction was begun in 1964.

Electric power produced by the Saian-Shushenskaia Hydroelectric Power Plant will be transmitted through 500-kV high-tension lines to the integrated Siberian power grid. The power plant will serve as the base for a large regional industrial complex.