Krasnoyarsk Dam

The Krasnoyarsk Dam is a 124-metre (407 ft) high concrete gravity dam located on the Yenisey River about 30 kilometres (19 mi) upstream from Krasnoyarsk in Divnogorsk, Russia. It was constructed from 1956 to 1972 and supplies 6,000 MW of power, mostly used to supply the KrAZ (Krasnoyarsky Aluminievyy Zavod, Krasnoyarsk Aluminum Plant). Both power and aluminum plants are controlled by the RUSAL company.

As a result of the damming, the Krasnoyarskoye reservoir was created. This reservoir, also known as Krasnoyarskoye More (Krasnoyarsk Sea), has an area of 2,000 square kilometres (770 sq mi) and a volume of 73.3 cubic kilometres (18 cu mi). It is 388 km (241 mi) in length and 15 km (9 mi) in width at its widest, has an average depth of 36.6 m (120.1 ft), and a depth of 105 m (344 ft) near the dam.

The Krasnoyarsk dam has greatly affected the local climate. Before the dam was built, the Yenisey in that area was free from ice around 196 days per year. Now it is free from ice the entire year up to 300 to 400 km downstream. The huge amount of water stored in Krasnoyarskoye reservoir makes the local climate more warm and humid.

The dam is equipped with a canal inclined plane to allow passage of ships. Different from other installations it is in fact an electric rack railway. At the time of its construction, this feat of modern engineering allowed for ships to be physically re-moved in only 90 minutes. Held to be a landmark symbol of Krasnoyarsk, it is depicted on the 10-ruble bill.