Uglich Hydroelectric Station
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57°31′39″N 38°17′52″E / 57.5275°N 38.297778°E
| Uglich Hydroelectric Station | |
|---|---|
 | |
 Interactive map of Uglich Hydroelectric Station | |
| Country | Russia |
| Status | Operational |
| Construction began | 1935 |
| Opening date | 1940 |
The Uglich Hydroelectric Station or Uglich GES (Russian: Угличская ГЭС) is a hydroelectric station on the Volga River in Uglich in Yaroslavl Oblast, Russia, and is the first of the Volga-Kama cascade of dams. It began operating on December 8, 1940, making it one of the oldest hydroelectric plants in Russia. The 120-MW plant is operated by RusHydro.[1][2] There is also a Russian hydropower museum located at the hydroelectric plant dedicated to the development of hydropower.[3]
Plant construction began in 1935[3] and the first excavator arrived in January 1936. The plant's design was approved on May 23, 1938 by the Economic Council of the USSR Council of People's Commissars, modeled after the Rybinsk hydroelectric station.[1] Gulag prisoners were used in the construction.[3] Many villages and the old part of Kalyazin were flooded by the reservoir created by the dam.[3] Some of the oldest buildings in the region, including the 15th-century Intercession Monastery in Uglich and the 16th-century Trinity Monastery in Kalyazin, were submerged by the reservoir.
The first hydroelectric generator went into operation on December 8, 1940, and the second began operating on March 20, 1941.[1]
