The emergence of modern methods of using electricity was preceded by a series of discoveries in physics and engineering, scattered over several centuries. Science has left us a dozen names involved in this epochal process. There are also Russian discoverers among them.
Petrov's electric arc
The history of the emergence of electricity would have been different if not for the experimental physicist and diligent self-taught Vasily Petrov (1761-1834). This scientist, driven by his own little-understood curiosity, conducted many experiments. His key achievement was the discovery of the electric arc in 1802.
Petrov proved that it can be used for practical purposes - including for welding metals, melting and lighting. At the same time, the experimenter created a large galvanic battery. The history of the development of electricity owes a lot to Vasily Petrov.
Yablochkov Candle
Another Russian inventor who contributed to the progress in energy is Pavel Yablochkov (1847-1894). In 1875 he created the carbon arc lamp. Behind her stuck the name candleYablochkov. For the first time the invention was demonstrated to the general public at the Paris World Exhibition. Thus was written the history of the origin of light. Electricity, in the sense in which we all used to understand it, was getting closer.
Yablochkov's lamp, despite the revolutionary nature of the idea, had several fatal flaws. After disconnecting from the source, it went out, and it was no longer possible to start the candle again. Nevertheless, the history of the origin of electricity rightfully left the name of Pavel Yablochkov in its annals.
Incandescent lamp Lodygin
The first domestic experiments related to urban electric lighting were carried out by Alexander Lodygin in St. Petersburg in 1873. It was he who invented the incandescent lamp. However, an attempt to introduce a novelty into mass operation was unsuccessful - she failed to take away a niche from the ubiquitous gas lamps. The patent for the tungsten filament was sold to the foreign company General Electric.
Russian enthusiasts, however, have not lost their enthusiasm. Shortly before the First World War, the "Electric Lighting Society" received the right to manufacture incandescent lamps. Grandiose plans did not come true due to bloodshed, the fall of the economy and general devastation. By 1917, incandescent lamps were only in rich estates, successful shops, etc. In general, even in the two capitals, such lighting covered only a third of the buildings. Electricity was treated by the masses as an incredible luxury, and each new illuminated shop window attracted the attention of thousands.townspeople.
Power Transmission
Perhaps the history of the emergence of electricity in Russia would have been different if at the turn of the XIX-XX centuries. there were no such problems with the power supply. If factories, villages or cities acquired a new source of energy, then they had to buy generators with low power. There were no government programs to finance electrification yet. If this turned out to be the initiative of the city, then, as a rule, funds for the novelty were allocated from the bins and the reserve fund.
The history of electricity shows that countries achieved cardinal changes related to electrification only after full-fledged power plants appeared in them. Even then, the capacity of such enterprises was enough to provide energy to entire regions. The first power plant in Russia appeared in 1912, and the same Electric Lighting Society was the initiator of its creation.
The construction site of such an important infrastructure was the Moscow province. The station was named "Power Transmission". Its founding father is considered to be industrial engineer Robert Klasson. The power plant, which still operates today, bears his name. At first, peat was used as fuel. Klasson personally chose a place near a reservoir (water was needed for cooling). Peat extraction was managed by Ivan Radchenko, who also became known as a revolutionary and a member of the RSDLP.
Thanks to "Electrotransmission", the history of the use of electricity has received a new bright page. It was a unique experience for its time. Energywas supposed to be fed to Moscow, but the distance between the city and the station was 75 kilometers. This meant that it was necessary to build a high-voltage line, which had no analogues in Russia yet. The situation was complicated by the fact that there was no legislation regulating the implementation of such projects in the country. The cables had to pass through the territory of many noble estates. The owners of the self-made station personally went around the aristocrats and persuaded them to support the undertaking. Despite all the difficulties, the lines managed to be carried out, and the domestic history of electricity acquired a serious precedent. Moscow got its energy.
Stations and trams
Appeared in the tsarist era and stations of a smaller scale. The history of electricity in Russia owes much to the German industrialist Werner von Siemens. In 1883 he worked on the festive illumination of the Moscow Kremlin. After the first successful experience, his company (which would later become known as a global concern) created a lighting system for the Winter Palace and Nevsky Prospekt in St. Petersburg. In 1898, a small power plant appeared in the capital on the Obvodny Canal. The Belgians invested in a similar enterprise on the Fontanka embankment, while the Germans invested in another one on Novgorodskaya street.
The history of electricity was not only about the appearance of stations. The first tram in the Russian Empire appeared in 1892 in Kyiv. In St. Petersburg, this newest type of public transport was launched in 1907 by power engineer Heinrich Graftio. The project investors were Germans. When the war with Germany began, theycapital was withdrawn from Russia, and the project was frozen for a while.
First HPPs
The domestic history of electricity in the tsarist period was also marked by the first small hydroelectric power stations. The earliest appeared at the Zyryanovsky mine in the Altai Mountains. Great fame fell on the station in St. Petersburg on the Bolshaya Okhta River. One of its builders was the same Robert Klasson. The Kislovodsk hydroelectric power plant "Bely Ugol" served as a source of energy for 400 street lamps, tram lines and mineral water pumps.
By 1913, there were already thousands of small hydropower plants on various Russian rivers. According to experts, their total capacity was 19 megawatts. The largest hydroelectric power station was the Hindu Kush station in Turkestan (it still operates today). At the same time, on the eve of the First World War, a noticeable trend developed: in the central provinces, emphasis was placed on the construction of thermal stations, and in a distant province, on the power of water. The history of creating electricity for Russian cities began with large investments by foreigners. Even the station equipment was almost all foreign. For example, turbines were purchased from everywhere - from Austria-Hungary to the USA.
In the period 1900-1914. the pace of Russian electrification was one of the highest in the world. At the same time, there was a noticeable bias. Electricity was supplied mainly for industry, but the demand for household appliances remained rather low. The key problem continued to be the lack of a centralized plan for the modernization of the country. Motionforward was carried out by private companies, while for the most part - foreign. The Germans and Belgians mainly financed projects in the two capitals and tried not to risk their funds in a distant Russian province.
GOELRO
The Bolsheviks who came to power after the October Revolution in 1920 adopted a plan to electrify the country. Its development began during the civil war. Gleb Krzhizhanovsky, who already had experience working with various energy projects, was appointed the head of the relevant commission (GOELRO - the State Commission for the Electrification of Russia). For example, he helped Robert Klasson with a station on peat in the Moscow province. In total, the commission that created the plan included about two hundred engineers and scientists.
Although the project was intended to develop energy, it also affected the entire Soviet economy. As a concomitant electrification of the enterprise, the Stalingrad Tractor Plant appeared. A new industrial region emerged in the Kuznetsk coal basin, where the development of huge deposits of resources began.
According to the GOELRO plan, 30 regional power plants (10 HPPs and 20 TPPs) were to be built. Many of these businesses still operate today. Among them are the Nizhny Novgorod, Kashirskaya, Chelyabinsk and Shaturskaya thermal power plants, as well as the Volkhovskaya, Nizhny Novgorod and Dneprovskaya hydroelectric power stations. The implementation of the plan led to the emergence of a new economic zoning of the country. The history of light and electricity cannot but be connected with the development of the transport system. Thanks toGOELRO, new railways, highways and the Volga-Don Canal appeared. It was through this plan that the industrialization of the country began, and the history of electricity in Russia turned another important page. The goals set by GOELRO were achieved in 1931.
Energy and war
On the eve of the Great Patriotic War, the total capacity of the electric power industry of the USSR was about 11 million kilowatts. The German invasion and the destruction of a significant part of the infrastructure greatly reduced these figures. Against the backdrop of this catastrophe, the State Defense Committee made the construction of enterprises that generate power part of the defense order.
With the liberation of the territories occupied by the Germans, the process of restoring destroyed or damaged power plants began. The most important were recognized Svirskaya, Dneprovskaya, Baksanskaya and Kegumskaya hydroelectric power stations, as well as Shakhtinskaya, Krivorozhskaya, Shterevskaya, Stalinogorskaya, Zuevskaya and Dubrovskaya thermal power plants. The provision of cities abandoned by the Germans with electricity at first was carried out thanks to power trains. The first such mobile station arrived in Stalingrad. By 1945, the domestic power industry managed to reach pre-war output levels. Even a brief history of electricity shows that the path of the country's modernization was thorny and tortuous.
Further development
After the onset of peace in the USSR, the construction of the world's largest thermal power plants and hydroelectric power plants continued. The energy program was carried out in accordance with the principle of further centralization of the entire industry. By 1960, electricity generation had increased 6 timescompared to 1940. By 1967, the process of creating a unified energy system that united the entire European part of the country was completed. This network included 600 power plants. Their total capacity was 65 million kilowatts.
In the future, the emphasis in the development of infrastructure was placed on the Asian and Far Eastern regions. This is partly due to the fact that it was there that about 4/5 of all hydropower resources of the USSR were concentrated. The “electric” symbol of the 1960s was the Bratskaya hydroelectric power station built on the Angara. Following it, a similar Krasnoyarsk station appeared on the Yenisei.
Hydropower developed in the Far East as well. In 1978, the houses of Soviet citizens began to receive current, which was produced by the Zeya hydroelectric power station. The height of its dam is 123 meters, and the generated power is 1330 megawatts. The Sayano-Shushenskaya HPP was considered a real miracle of engineering in the Soviet Union. The project was implemented in the conditions of the difficult climate of Siberia and remoteness from large cities with the necessary industry. Many parts (for example, hydraulic turbines) got to the construction site through the Arctic Ocean, making a journey of 10 thousand kilometers.
In the early 1980s, the fuel and energy balance of the Soviet economy changed dramatically. Nuclear power plants played an increasingly important role. In 1980, their share in energy generation was 5%, and in 1985 it was already 10%. The locomotive of the industry was the Obninsk NPP. During this period, accelerated serial construction of nuclear power plants began, but the economic crisis and the Chernobyl disaster slowed down this process.
Modernity
After the collapse of the USSR, there was a decrease in investment in the electric power industry. Stations that were under construction, but not yet completed, were mothballed en masse. In 1992, the unified power grid was merged into RAO UES of Russia. This did not help to avoid a systemic crisis in a complex economy.
The second wind of the electric power industry has come in the 21st century. Many Soviet construction projects have resumed. For example, in 2009, the construction of the Bureyskaya hydroelectric power station, which began back in 1978, was completed. Nuclear power plants are also being built: B altiyskaya, Beloyarskaya, Leningradskaya, Rostovskaya.
