Krasnoyarsk Dam

The Krasnoyarsk Dam is a 124 m high concrete gravity dam located on the Yenisey River about 30 km upstream from Krasnoyarsk in Divnogorsk, Russia. It was constructed from 1956 to 1972, and it supplies about 6,000 MW of electricity, mostly used to supply the KrAZ (Krasnoyarsky Aluminievyy Zavod, the Krasnoyarsk Aluminum Plant). Both power and aluminum plants are controlled by the RUSAL company.

Beginning with the opening of the 10th turbine in April 1971, the powerhouse was the world's single largest power plant until the Grand Coulee Dam in Washington state reached 6,181 MW in 1983. The Krasnoyarsk Dam is held to be a landmark symbol of Krasnoyarsk, and it is depicted on the 10-ruble banknote.

As a result of the damming, the Krasnoyarsk Reservoir was created. This reservoir, informally known as the Krasnoyarsk Sea, has an area of 2000 km2 and a volume of 73.3 km3. It is 388 km in length and 15 km in width at its widest, has an average depth of 36.6 m, and a depth of 105 m near the dam.

The Krasnoyarsk Dam significantly influences the local climate; normally the river would freeze over in the bitterly cold Siberian winter, but because the dam releases unfrozen water year-round, the river never freezes in the 200 km to 300 km stretch of river immediately downstream from the dam. In winter, the frigid air interacts with the warm river water to produce fog, which shrouds Krasnoyarsk and other downstream areas.

Ship lift


The dam is equipped with a canal inclined plane to allow passage of ships. It is in fact an electric rack railway. The track gauge is, making it the widest-gauge railway of any type in the world. At the time of its construction, this feat of modern engineering allowed for ships to be physically moved in only 90 minutes.