Shipping locks of the Dnepropetrovsk hydroelectric complex (DneproHES). Shipping lock Volzhskoy HPS Gateway HPS

I’m still an infection - almost a year ago, at the invitation of RusHydro, I visited the huge and incredible Volga hydroelectric power station, and still haven’t shown anything. On the trip, we managed not only to look at the hydroelectric power plant, but also to ride a boat along the Volga, get acquainted with the work of the locks and look at the huge sturgeon and beluga, which are bred at the fish factory in the body of the dam. But I had a slight creative crisis: I didn’t want to shoot in the old way, but I still didn’t understand how in a new way. As a result, a year later, I still managed to somehow rethink that shooting and choose something.

We visited the hydroelectric power plant in May, thanks to which we managed to catch the spring discharge of water from the dam - therefore, there is foam on the water.

2. We sail on a boat in foamy "clouds" to look at open shields

3. Everything is bubbling. The view is, of course, mesmerizing. You don't even hear the train. The length of the concrete spillway dam is 724 meters.

By the way, during the construction of the Volzhskaya HPP, 140,000,000 m³ of soil was selected. If there was a need to transport all this soil in a similar freight train, then 8 million wagons would be required.
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5. We approach the hydroelectric power station itself

6. For safety reasons, it is necessary to wear helmets in the premises of the power plant

7. The engine room is impressive: a building 736 m long, 22 hydraulic units with Kaplan turbines

8. In the spring of 2013, work was carried out at the Volzhskaya HPP on overhaul and modernization of several hydraulic units

9. Dismantling of the old unit is underway

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11. Station employee takes readings from the control panel

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14. Turbine shaft

15. Work is in full swing

16. I don’t know what it is - it’s just that the light fell beautifully

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18. In the evening we set off to shoot regime views of the dam and power lines around, the trembling of the air distorts reality

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20. Men catch clouds with fishing rods ... romance!

21. And they catch such fish (in general, you can’t fish on the drop, but you need to feed your family)

22. We are going to watch the work of the shipping facilities of the Volga hydroelectric power station. Locks employee meets dry cargo ship

23. The shutters of airlocks are closed mainly by female employees.

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25. There is a small hydroelectric power station in the building of the navigation facility, which is structurally part of the hydroelectric complex, but is not legally related to the Volzhskaya hydroelectric power station

The dam of the Volga hydroelectric power station, which is the lower stage of the cascade, blocked the spawning path for migratory fish of the Caspian Sea. The beluga, Russian sturgeon, white fish, and Volga herring were especially affected. To maintain their livestock, artificial fish farming is used. The fish factory is located right in the body of the dam.

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This time there will be no analytics and problematic issues, but there will be a time-lapse, animation and a bunch of photos about how the locks on our numerous reservoirs are arranged and how they work.
, I already told. Now let's take a closer look at how ships overcome the rather large thresholds of the erected dams in order to get up or downstream.

Look at the view of the Cheboksary HPP and the locks:

Why locks were built simultaneously with dams is understandable.
Do you know that today in many places the locks and hydroelectric power stations themselves, together with the dam, belong to different departments?
HPP - RusHydro, and locks - Rosmorrechflot. This is the irony of privatization.
However, what am I? Promised no retreat!

Then let's first watch the video, and then - the details in the photographs.
Before that, I’ll just say that they don’t usually take excursions to the gateways, so I had to use the opportunity provided to the fullest - I put the old Canon S3 IS over the abyss and started shooting time-lapse:

Well, then I also took my modeling system and made a model of the gateway with animation to show on the model how the gate closes, where the water flows from and all that.
For what is a gateway? This is the same pool from the classical problem in arithmetic: it flows into one pipe, pours out into another. Nothing complicated!

Please note that no pumps are required on river locks: water fills the lock chamber or flows out of it by itself, you just need to open the valves.
But on canals passing through watersheds (like the Moscow Canal), pumps are needed (although not necessarily on the locks themselves).

The mathematical model of this "pool" is a little more complicated than two pipes: in addition to them, you still need to control the boat and the gate. And water to flow in the pipes:

What? Unfamiliar language? Well, that's ok! ;)

Everything, everything, everything, I will no longer fill my head with wisdom. Just watch the video and see for yourself.
True, the mounted (for beauty) photo of the gateway control panel is from the Nizhny Novgorod hydroelectric power station, but I think our people will forgive me for this! :)

Now, for the photo details.

That the roof of the engine room of the Cheboksary HPP is also a bridge across the Volga:

Therefore, residents of Cheboksary and guests of the capital usually see our HPP from a car window, and in the best case (if you stop in front of the bridge) something like this:

To see all the beauty and power of the hydraulic structure, you need to climb the mountain to the grove.
We used to come there on bicycles in childhood to look at the great construction site and experience the joy of work ("this is the feeling that a poet experiences, looking at a dam under construction").
Well, or climb the Gateway Control Tower - that's where my camera stood on a tripod:

Who forgot or for the first time - by clicking the mouse, the photo opens in a large size!

It was a top view. And here is the Tower itself, bottom view:

What does this center look like?
The control panel is simple and not very modern (but this is enough here - it’s not an airport):

There is another interesting system. They can see all the ships going up and down the Volga (all those that have GLONASS/GPS and special means of data transmission).
The blue track of the next ship is visible on the screen. We wanted to wait for him, but we never did - he was far away and walked slowly:

Actually, speed is the main drawback of water transport. Perishable products you can't take it on a barge.
But it is very convenient to carry Construction Materials. The fact that today the KAMAZ army carries them on the roads is simply a crime against the environment, and even common sense. And we do not leave the hope that water transport will, in the end, be restored and developed.
Look at the title photo or this beautiful barge that enters the locks of the Nizhny Novgorod hydroelectric power station - what a carrying capacity! In order to transport so much cargo by Kamaz trucks from one Volga city to another, it is necessary to burn fuel tanks and break hundreds of kilometers of the route ...

Stop. With a broken track, everything is clear, but with fuel tanks? However, the efficiency of the entire vessel, according to rough estimates, is only 3%. So the current technologies of water transport are significantly inferior to freight transport (total efficiency is about 8%) - and even more so - to rail transport. Therefore, for now, forget everything that I said in the paragraph above - a separate topic for analysis and comparison is required here!

In the meantime, the Volga, alas, is quite deserted:

But let's not be distracted and continue our acquaintance with the work of the gateway.

Here, for completeness, is the view "into the abyss" from the Tower:

The first photo showed a double barge that occupied the entire lock.
And there will be only one small boat:

For each vessel, the lock dispatcher indicates the place that he needs to take in the lock - the number of the mooring eye, and the following indicators help the captain of a large ship to monitor the position:

The ship is moored to the eyelets - large floats that run along the rails in the niches of the walls of the lock chamber, rising and falling along with the water and the ship:

Our boat is going down, so now we need to close the upper gate.
On most locks of the Volga-Kama cascade, they are made in the form of a lifting wall:

Pay attention to the "teeth" that barely emerged from the water - this is a fixed base, a fortified wall that helps the gate withstand the pressure of the huge mass of the reservoir.
Look how small the distance from them to the upper limit of the water (4 meters)!
A ship with a draft of more than 3.6 m simply will not pass here (40 cm is the reserve required by the regulations). And if, due to low water, which took place this summer, the water level in the reservoir drops slightly, then smaller vessels will no longer be able to pass.
At the Cheboksary HPP, such a severe limitation arose due to the fact that the level of the reservoir was not raised to the design height. At the design level of 68 meters, the gate will need to be slightly raised, but the threshold will be already 6 meters, which is guaranteed to be enough for all Volga ships.

Upper gate up close:

Here we see workers and emergency gates duplicating them at the same time (the airlock is completely filled with water).
Emergency gates are needed in case of failure or scheduled repair of working gates.
When there are no locking ships, it is possible to carry out routine maintenance of mechanisms, which we now see.

With the help of a theodolite, the deflection of the gate is controlled:

Just imagine, this iron hulk still noticeably bends under the pressure of water in the reservoir - up to 1.5 cm is an emergency gate and less than a centimeter is a working gate!

The lifting mechanism at the gate is hydraulic:

Oil pumps for maintenance of the upper gate:

There are always a lot of birds in the locks:

Because here it is convenient to pick up fish that remain on the gate rising from the water:

Let's go to the lower gate.
Again, on most Volga locks, they are made in the form of huge double doors:

When closed, the doors converge at a noticeable angle to resist the pressure of water in the lock chamber:

At the Cheboksary hydroelectric power station, special measures are provided so that the water flowing out of the lock chamber does not wash away the shore. Part of it merges from under the gate (seething water in the picture), and part - far from the lock and from the coast - to the middle of the Volga:

To avoid waves when filling the lock chamber, special measures are also provided here - a complex distribution system that dampens the speed of the water flow and evenly distributes it throughout the lock. Part of these special chambers is visible from the outside. They remained unfinished, because then they decided not to raise the water to the design level. Now, if there is still a rise, we will have to finish building:

Finally, the water from the lock is released, you can open the lower gate:

Let's take a closer look around the lower gate:

Directly under the bridge, above the emergency gate, rails are visible, which seem to break into an abyss. They were used during construction, and even now they can be used - you just need to lower a large beam, which is visible at the top left, right under the bridge - this is nothing more than a movable span of a railway bridge. It will lie across the lock, and the rails will continue!

What else can you see?
For example, a utility yard between lock chambers:

And some brutal designs for a snack:

And here is the barge leaving the lock:

A hydroelectric power station is a hydroelectric power plant that converts the energy of a water stream into electricity. The flow of water, falling on the blades, rotates the turbines, which, in turn, set in motion generators that convert mechanical energy into electrical energy. Hydroelectric power plants are built on riverbeds, and dams and reservoirs are usually built.

Principle of operation

The basis of the operation of a hydroelectric power station is the energy of falling water. Due to the difference in levels, river water forms a continuous flow from source to mouth. The dam is an integral part of almost all hydroelectric power plants, it blocks the movement of water in the riverbed. A reservoir is formed in front of the dam, creating a significant difference in water levels before and after it.

The upper and lower levels of the water are called the pool, and the difference between them is the height of the fall or pressure. The principle of operation is quite simple. A turbine is installed on the downstream, on the blades of which the flow from the upstream is directed. The falling flow of water sets the turbine in motion, and it rotates the rotor of the electric generator through a mechanical connection. The greater the pressure and the amount of water passing through the turbines, the higher the power of the hydroelectric power plant. The efficiency is about 85%.

Peculiarities

There are three factors for efficient energy production in hydroelectric power plants:

• Year-round guaranteed water supply.
• Favorable terrain. The presence of canyons and drops contribute to hydraulic construction.
• Greater slope of the river.

The operation of a hydroelectric power plant has several, including comparative features:

• The cost of electricity produced is significantly less than at other types of power plants.
• Renewable energy source.
• Depending on the amount of power a hydroelectric power plant needs to produce, its generators can be quickly switched on and off.
• Compared to other types of power plants, hydroelectric power plants have much less impact on the air environment.
• Basically, HPPs are objects remote from consumers.
• The construction of hydroelectric power plants is very capital intensive.
• Reservoirs occupy large areas.
• The construction of dams and the construction of reservoirs blocks many species of fish from reaching spawning grounds, which radically changes the nature of fisheries. But at the same time, fish farms are being set up in the reservoir itself, fish stocks are increasing.

Kinds

Hydroelectric power plants are divided according to the nature of the erected structures:

• Dam hydroelectric power stations are the most common stations in the world in which the pressure is created by a dam. They are built on rivers with a predominantly slight slope. To create a large pressure under the reservoirs, large areas are flooded.
• Derivative - stations built on mountain rivers with a large slope. The required pressure is created in the bypass (derivation) channels at a relatively low water flow. Part of the river flow through the water intake is sent to the pipeline, which creates a pressure that drives the turbine.
• Hydrostorage stations. They help the power system cope with peak loads. The hydraulic units of such stations are capable of operating in pumping and generating modes. They consist of two reservoirs at different levels, connected by a pipeline with a hydroelectric unit inside. At high loads, water is discharged from the upper reservoir to a lower one, while the turbine rotates and electricity is generated. When demand is low, water is pumped back from the low storage to the higher storage.

Hydropower of Russia

To date, more than 100 MW of electricity are generated in Russia at 102 hydroelectric power plants. The total capacity of all hydraulic units of Russian HPPs is about 45 million kW, which corresponds to the fifth place in the world. The share of HPPs in the total amount of electricity generated in Russia is 21% - 165 billion kWh / year, which also corresponds to the 5th place in the world. In terms of the number of potential hydropower resources, Russia is in second place after China with an indicator of 852 billion kWh, but the degree of their development is only 20%, which is significantly lower than in almost all countries of the world, including developing ones. In order to develop the hydro potential and develop the Russian energy sector, in 2004 a federal program to ensure the reliable operation of functioning hydroelectric power plants, the completion of existing construction projects, the design and construction of new stations.

List of the largest hydroelectric power plants in Russia

• Krasnoyarsk HPP - Divnogorsk, on the Yenisei River.
• Bratsk HPP - Bratsk, r. Angara.
• Ust-Ilimskaya - Ust-Ilimsk, r. Angara.
• Sayano-Shushenskaya HPP - Sayanogorsk.
• Boguchanskaya HPP - on the river. Angara.
• Zhigulevskaya HPP - Zhigulevsk, r. Volga.
• Volzhskaya hydroelectric power station - Volzhsky, Volgograd region, Volga river.
• Cheboksary - Novocheboksarsk, the Volga River.
• Bureyskaya HPP - pos. Talakan, Bureya river.
• Nizhnekamsk HPP - Chelny, r. Kama.
• Votkinskaya - Tchaikovsky, r. Kama.
• Chirkeyskaya - river. Sulak.
• Zagorskaya PSP is a river. Kunya.
• Zeyskaya - the city of Zeya, r. Zeya.
• Saratov HPP is a river. Volga.

Volzhskaya HPP

In the past, the Stalingrad and Volgograd hydroelectric power stations, and now the Volzhskaya, located in the city of the same name Volzhsky on the Volga River, are a medium-pressure station of the channel type. Today it is considered the largest hydroelectric power plant in Europe. The number of hydroelectric units is 22, the electric power is 2592.5 MW, the average annual amount of electricity generated is 11.1 billion kWh. The capacity of the hydroelectric complex is 25,000 m3/s. Most of the electricity generated is supplied to local consumers.

The construction of the hydroelectric power station started in 1950. The launch of the first hydroelectric unit was carried out in December 1958. The Volga hydroelectric power station was fully operational in September 1961. The commissioning played a crucial role in unifying the significant energy systems of the Volga region, the Center, the South and the energy supply of the Lower Volga region and Donbass. Already in the 2000s, several upgrades were made, which made it possible to increase the total capacity of the station. In addition to generating electricity, the Volzhskaya HPP is used to irrigate arid land masses in the Trans-Volga region. At the facilities of the hydroelectric complex, road and rail crossings across the Volga were arranged, providing communication between the regions of the Volga region.

In the city of Volzhsky, Volgograd region. To the right of it there is a dam, and to the left there is a similar navigable two-chamber dam located in parallel. A spillway runs between the locks. The structure of the gateway includes the upper and lower chambers. The length of each of the lock chambers is 290 meters, the width of the chamber is 29.7 meters, and the depth is 3.65 meters. Between the upper and lower chambers there is a bridge designed for the movement of automobile and railway transport.

The construction of the lock began in 1955, and it was opened on April 10, 1959. Despite the fact that the lock is located on the Volga River, it is maintained by the Federal state-financed organization. The passage of vessels at the lock begins on April 1 and ends on November 25.

When moving down the Volga River, ships enter the lock from the side, and when moving up the river, from the lower approach channel of the Volgograd hydroelectric complex. The depth of the Volga River at the upper chamber of the lock (from the side of the reservoir) is 19 meters, and at the bottom - 4.4 meters.

GatewayNo. 31 (left) and No. 30 (right) from the side of the Volgograd reservoir. Photo: Andrey Uritsk

View of the upper chamber of lock No. 31 from the side of the Volgograd reservoir. Photo: Andrey Uritsk

View of the upper chamber of lock No. 31 and the Volgograd reservoir. Photo: Andrey Uritsk

View of the lower chamber of lock No. 31 when moving down the Volga. Photo: Mikhail Arkhipov

View of the lower chamber of lock No. 31 when moving up the Volga. Photo: Ivan Zagainov

View of the lower chambers of locks No. 30 and No. 31 when moving from Volgograd. Photo: Mikhail Arkhipov

Shipping locks located on the Volga:

- (Dubna, Moscow region)
- (Uglich, Yaroslavl region)

- (Rybinsk, Yaroslavl region)

- (Gorodets, Nizhny Novgorod region)
- (Gorodets, Nizhny Novgorod region)
- (Gorodets, Nizhny Novgorod region)

I will start the story about the Volga hydroelectric power station with a shipping lock.
The Volzhskaya HPP is a medium-pressure run-of-river hydroelectric power plant. The structure of the main hydraulic structures includes: the power plant building, concrete spillway and earthen dams, shipping facilities.
Navigable structures (locks, ship lifts, etc.) are designed to raise or lower ships from one water level to another.
The hydroelectric complex has two lock chambers, numbered 30 and 31.

2. Bulk carrier enters the approach channel.

3. Motor ship with tourists in one of the lock chambers.

4. Bulk carrier "Sormovsky 3064" enters the lock chamber.

5. On command from the control room, he presses against one of the sides of the lock chamber.

6. The shutters of the chamber are closed under the supervision of an employee.

7. An employee of the lock makes sure that no foreign object gets between the wings during closing.

8. The doors of the lock chamber are closed. Water begins to flow into the lock chamber.

9. After a few minutes, the lock chamber is filled with water.

10. Excess water flows into the spillway.

11. Dry cargo ship mooring team.

12. View from the control tower to the upper chambers of the airlock.

13. Lower chambers locks.

14. Passenger ship "K.Minin" leaves the upper lock chamber.

15. View of the drainage channel of the lower lock chambers.

16. In the building of the interlock HPP, which is structurally part of the hydroelectric complex, but legally not related to the Volzhskaya HPP, two PL30-V-330 rotary-vane hydraulic units are installed.

17. Gates of the lock, the total weight of which is 390 tons.
For half a century, almost 423 thousand locks were carried out here, 950 thousand ships passed through the leaves of the main gate. The total volume of cargo transportation exceeded 802 million tons.