A unique book on the history of the Norwestern power industry presented in the National Library of Karelia
On October 5, 2015, a book entitled Ahead of the Time: a Photo Record of the Power Sector in the Northwest was presented in the new building of the National Library of Karelia. The book was published with the support of JSC TGC-1 in the year of its 10th anniversary. The meeting was attended by working energy professionals, industry veterans, and delegates of the Blockade Leningrad society in Petrozavodsk.
At the ceremony, the book was given for custody to Marina Danilova, Head of the Department of Cultural Education Projects and Programs at the National Library of Karelia. Pavel Ganin, Deputy Chief Engineer of the Karelskiy branch of JSC TGC-1 who participated in building a number of Karelian power plants, said the following as he presented the photo record:
“This is indeed an important event. There is now a book on the development of the Northwestern power industry, which covers a period from 1802 when Vasily Petrov discovered the electric arc and until the commissioning of new power plants of JSC TGC-1 in the 21st century. The Karelian power sector holds a special place in the book, which is no surprise. Our region is the leader by the number of HPPs in Russia, some of which are indeed unique. One of those is Hamekoski, the oldest power plant that still uses the original equipment made in 1903.”
Veterans and professionals of the industry also mentioned an important event in the development of the Karelian power industry, which was the construction of the Kondopozhskaya HPP in 1921, the first power plant of the famous GOELRO plan in the republic. Numbered one, this plant became the first in the European part of the USSR. This event is illustrated in the book with several unique photographs.
“Nowadays, we are so much accustomed to electricity in our lives that we hardly ever think of where the energy comes from. This is why it is so important to remember how much hard work the production of heat and electricity requires and what a great contribution the power industry makes to make the lives of millions of people comfortable,” Ganin added.
The book contains unique photographs, interesting facts, and witnesses’ memories. Most of these have never been published before. They were provided by the Museum of History of the Power Industry in the Northwest and the national history museums of Karelia, Leningrad Oblast, and Murmansk Oblast and found in the personal archives of the people who work or worked in the national power system.