Dnieper Hydroelectric Station

Dnieper Hydroelectric Station
The dam as seen from Khortytsia Island.
Location of the Dnieper Hydroelectric Station in Zaporizhia Oblast, Ukraine
Country	Ukraine
Location	Zaporizhia
Coordinates	47°52′09″N 35°05′13″E / 47.86917°N 35.08694°E / 47.86917; 35.08694Coordinates: 47°52′09″N 35°05′13″E / 47.86917°N 35.08694°E / 47.86917; 35.08694
Status	Operational
Construction began	1927
Opening date	October 1932
Owner(s)	Energy Company of Ukraine
Dam and spillways
Impounds	Dnieper River
Height	61 m (200 ft)
Length	800 m (2,600 ft)
Reservoir
Active capacity	33.3 km3 (27,000,000 acre·ft)
Power station
Operator(s)	Ukrhydroenergo
Installed capacity	1,569 MW

The Dnieper Hydroelectric Station (Ukrainian: ДніпроГЕС - DniproHES, Russian: ДнепроГЭС - DneproGES, also known as Dneprostroi Dam) is the largest hydroelectric power station on the Dnieper River, placed in Zaporizhia, Ukraine.

In the lower reaches of the Dnieper River there was an almost 100 kilometres (62 mi) long stretch that was filled with rapids. Now this is the distance between the modern cities Dnipropetrovsk and Zaporizhia. In the 19th century engineers worked on the projects to make the river navigable. The projects for the flooding of the rapids were proposed by N. Lelyavsky in 1893, V. Timonov⁽⁾ in 1894, S. Maximov and Genrikh Graftio in 1905, A. Rundo and D. Yuskevich in 1910, I. Rozov and L. Yurgevich in 1912, Mohylko. While the main objective of these projects was to improve navigation, hydropower generation appeared concurrently, in terms of "utilization of the freely flowing water". G. Graftio's⁽⁾ project of 1905 included three dams with a small area of flooding.

Lenin's slogan "Communism is Soviet power plus the electrification of the whole country" became a motto for Soviet industrialization. On February 7, 1920, the All-Russian Central Executive Committee of the Soviets announced the formation of a State Electrification Commission (GOELRO) under the chairmanship of the Bolshevik electrical engineer, Gleb Krzhizhanovskii. The task of the commission was to devise a general plan for electrifying the country via the construction of a network of regional power stations. Ten months later, GOELRO presented its plan, a document of more than 500 pages, to the Eighth Congress of Soviets in Moscow.

The Dneprostroi Dam was built on deserted land in the countryside to stimulate Soviet industrialization. There was established a special company called Dniprobud or Dneprostroi (hence the dam's alternative name) that later built other dams on the Dnieper and exists to this day. The design for the dam that was accepted dates back to the USSR GOELRO electrification plan which was adopted in early 1920s. The station was designed by a group of engineers headed by Prof. Ivan Alexandrov, a chief expert of GOELRO, who later became a head of the RSFSR State Planning Commission. The station was planned to provide electricity for several aluminium production plants and a high quality steel production plant that were also to be constructed in the area.