TGC-1 and Lev Lurie’s Culture & History Club present a joint project Power Petersburg - Where the Elephant's Legs Come From
On 17 August 2018 TGC-1 together with Lev Lurie’s Culture & History Club made a presentation of an excursion named Power Petersburg - Where the Elephant's Legs Come From. Residents historically called the building of the first power plant in the city as "an elephant" due to four pipes rising above the Southern bank of the Fontanka River, which were as enormous as the elephant's legs. The old-time Power Plant No. 3 of Centralnaya CHPP, from which the first Russian industrial heat pipeline was constructed, is open for visitors from August until September.
- St. Petersburg is not only the city of Pushkin and Brodsky, but also the Russian Manchester, the city of advanced industry. Factories and power plants are as good as palaces and rental houses. The industrial power of our native land, its history - that is what "Elephant on Fontanka" means. And I would like to thank TGC-1 for the possibility to see industrial Russia - Lev Lurie emphasised. - Our guides will tell the story of how it was all invented, how it was and is working.
- Excursions to the power facilities represent part of the large project Power Petersburg, which has been implemented by TGC-1 since 2015. This year we celebrate the 120th anniversary of the Power Plant No. 3. This facility is the city's landmark with an interesting and heroic history, we would like to tell the residents about - Natalia Bystrova, Director of the North-West Energy History Museum noted.
Reference
The power plant of the Belgic Societe Anonima of Electrical Illumination was commissioned on 22 May 1898. The power plant being an industrial heating pioneer of Russia was the first one to supply heat to several residential houses in Leningrad in 1924. That was also when planned renovation of worn-out equipment and connection of the power plant to the unified electricity grid with the centralised dispatching control started. In 2018, the Power Plant No. 3 of TGC-1's Centralnaya CHPP celebrates its 120th anniversary.
Power Petersburg is a project of authorial excursions acquainting residents and visitors of St. Petersburg with the power history, development stages of the industry and lives of its founders. The project has been implemented by TGC-1 since 2015. Lev Lurie’s Culture & History Club became the project's partner in 2018.
TGC-1 is a leading producer and supplier of electricity and heat in the North-West of Russia. TGC-1 comprises 53 electric power plants within four constituent entities of the Russian Federation: St. Petersburg, the Republic of Karelia, Leningrad and Murmansk Oblasts. The installed electric capacity of TGC-1 is 6.95 GW, heat capacity is 13.65 thousand Gcal/hr.
Lev Lurie’s Culture & History Club is a cultural and educational organisation, which mission is an entertaining education for those, who do not trust academic and television patterns and would like to see the past and present alive, as it is.