OREANDA-NEWS. January 25, 2012. December 29, Irkutsk HPP, the first HPP in the Angara cascade and the first major HPP in eastern Siberia, celebrates the 55th anniversary of launching the first hydraulic unit in the grid. In 1958, the constructors put into operation the last two hydraulic units ahead of schedule and HPP started working at full capacity. October 24, 1959 Irkutsk HHP started operating at regular basis. There were many difficulties during the implementation of Irkutsk HPP project, as there had been no previous experience of building hydro power plants. The task was to build a gravel-pebble dam with a central core of loam and a powerhouse of combined type, where eight generating units were to be installed. Construction of the dam of this type had been projected for the first time, and there had never been such a large dam in the global practice.

Today, Irkutsk HPP with a capacity of 662.4 MW generates 4.1 billion kWh of electricity in the average water year. The number of hours of installed capacity usage amounts to 6,212. The electricity is used by companies of energy-intensive industries (IrkAZ) and household consumers of Irkutsk and the surrounding cities. By the memorable date Irkutsk HPP had produced 214.7 billion kWh of electricity.

About 279 million rubles is used for the re-equipment program of the plant in 2011, the replacement of relay protection equipment, automation, hydraulic units control system is being carried out, the replacement of oil switches to the gas-insulated ones is completed, as part of the project of plant load reconstruction of HPP, electrical equipment and tens of kilometers of power and control cables are replaced. Project design work on the turbine room slabs (start of work is scheduled for 2014) and the DC grid reconstruction has been started, within four years the construction of a new relay board will be completed.