Lesogorskaya HPP – 50 Years of Operation!

On 19 December 2017, Lesogorskaya HPP, the lower plant of TGC-1 Vuoksa HPPs Cascade, is celebrating its 80th anniversary.

The hydroelectric power plant was designed and constructed in 1934–1937 by Finnish specialists and initially it was named Rauhiala. Power supply to an artificial fibre manufacture was among the main objectives of the plant. Before 1940, the plant was located in the territory of Finland, but after the Winter War it became the property of the USSR. Vyborg and Leningrad got the first megawatts of energy already in September 1940, when power transmission lines were constructed.

During the Great Patriotic War, the plant was partially destroyed. Two hydroelectric generating units were disassembled and evacuated to Gorky and Ust-Kamenogorsk to be installed at Ural HPPs: Shirokovskaya and Ponyshskaya. On 11 August 1941, the territory of Rauhiala HPP’s location was occupied and liberated by Soviet army only in August 1944.

The reconstruction started right after the liberation of the Leningrad Oblast, and all four units were put into operation in July 1946.

In 1948, the plant was renamed into Lesogorskaya. In 1949, together with Svetogorskaya HPP, they formed the Vuoksa Cascade.

In 2009–2013, a major renovation took place at the cascade that increased the generation capacities up to 118 MW and reliability of the plants, automated HPP’s control system and significantly decreased the environmental pressure at Vuoksa river basin.

Svetogorskaya and Lesogorskaya HPPs have been supplying heat and power for the Karelian Isthmus and upholding the sustainable development of the Leningrad Oblast for many years. The annual output of the two stations exceeds 1 billion kWh of power, which is also exported to Finland.

Reference

TGC-1 is a leading producer of electric and heat energy in the North-West region of Russia. It comprises 53 power plants in four constituent entities of the Russian Federation: Saint Petersburg, the Republic of Karelia, the Leningrad and Murmansk Oblasts. 19 of them are located within the Arctic Circle. Their installed electric capacity is 6.95 GW, thermal — 13.65 thousand Gcal/h.