Kayrakkum Dam

The Kayrakkum Dam (Кайраккумская ГЭС; НБО Қайроққум), also spelt variously as Kayrakum, Kairakum, Qayraqqum or Qayroqqum, is an embankment dam on the Syr Darya River near the town of Kayrakkum in Sughd Province, Tajikistan. It is situated on the western edge of the Fergana Valley and creates Kayrakkum Reservoir. The reservoir supplies water for irrigation, primarily in Uzbekistan downstream, and hydroelectric power production. The reservoir is also a Ramsar site. The dam's power station has an installed capacity of 126 MW and is operated by Barki Tojik. Construction on the dam began in 1952. It began to impound its reservoir in 1956 and the first two generators were commissioned that year. The other four were operational in 1957 and the project was complete in 1959. The power station is currently undergoing a rehabilitation which should be completed in 2020. Two new and larger turbines will increase the installed capacity to 142 MW.

The 32 m tall and 1202 m long embankment dam is filled with sand, gravel and rock. Its spillway and power station are co-located on the left side of the dam in a gravity dam section. The spillway contains six maintenance gates and six operational gates with a total discharge capacity of 3960 m3/s. The power station houses six 21 MW Kaplan turbine-generators. Kayrakkum Reservoir has a total storage capacity of 4200000000 m3 and surface of 513 km2. Of the total reservoir capacity, 2300000000 m3 can be used for irrigation downstream and/or power generation. 1900000000 m3 is dead or unusable storage.