Chirkey Dam


The Chirkey Dam is an arch dam on the Sulak River in Dagestan, Russia. The main purpose of the dam is hydroelectric power production and it supports a 1,000 MW power station. Construction on the dam began in 1964, the first generator was operational by 1974, the last in 1976 while the project was officially completed in 1978. It is the tallest arch dam in Russia.

Design

The dam is a tall and long concrete arch dam. It is wide at its crest, wide at its base and contains of concrete. The dam withholds a reservoir of which is active or "useful" storage. The reservoir has a surface are of, length of and maximum width of. Maximum depth of the reservoir is and its catchment area is.
The dam's spillway consists of a long non-pressure tunnel with its intake on the left bank of the dam. The spillway's capacity is. The dam's outlet works, spillway and power station have a combined discharge capacity of.
The dam's power station contains 4 x 250 MW Francis turbine-generators for a total installed capacity of 1,000 MW. Each generator is supplied with water by a penstock, all four of which intake on the upstream side of the dam's face and run down its surface toward the power station at the dam's base.