Dnipro Cascade of Hydroelectric Stations

Dnipro Cascade of Hydroelectric Stations (Дніпровський каскад ГЕС; Dniprovskyi kaskad HES). A series of six hydroelectric stations on the Dnipro River. The projected potential of these stations is about 3.8 million kilowatts. The average annual production is 9.8 billion kilowatt-hours. The energy potential of the Dnipro began to be tapped when the Dnipro Hydroelectric Station was built in 1927–32 (352,000 kW) according to the plan of the State Commission for the Electrification of Russia (GOELRO). In 1950–6 the Kakhovka Hydroelectric Station (352,000 kW) was built, followed by the Kremenchuk Hydroelectric Station (625,000 kW) in 1960, the Dniprodzerzhynsk Hydroelectric Station (now Middle Dnipro Hydroelectric Station) (325,000 kW) in 1956–65, the Kyiv Hydroelectric Station (586,000 kW) in 1968, and the Kaniv Hydroelectric Station (444,000 kW) in 1963–75. In 1969 construction of the Dnipro Hydroelectric Station - 2 (Dniprohes-2), with a potential of 828,000 kW, began. Eight smaller hydroelectric stations are planned for the future on the upper stretch of the Dnipro in Belarus and Russia. The large reservoirs that have been constructed as part of the Dnipro Cascade are used for regulating the water level of the Dnipro, irrigating the arid regions of southern Ukraine, and improving the water supply in the industrial regions along the Dnipro River and in the Donets Basin. At the same time a deep-water route along the Dnipro from the Black Sea to the mouth of the Prypiat River has been created.

[This article originally appeared in the Encyclopedia of Ukraine, vol. 1 (1984).]