Enguri dam

Enguri dam
Location:	Svaneti and Abkhazia in Georgia
Tributaries:	Enguri
Drain:	Enguri
Larger places nearby:	Jvari
	Georgia
Coordinates	42 ° 50 ′ 0 ″ N , 42 ° 0 ′ 0 ″ E Coordinates: 42 ° 50 ′ 0 ″ N , 42 ° 0 ′ 0 ″ E
	Data on the structure
Construction time:	1968-1988
Height above foundation level :	271.5 m
Building volume:	4 million m³
Crown length:	750 m
Power plant output:	1 300 MW
	Data on the reservoir
Altitude (at congestion destination )	510 m
Water surface	13.13 km²
Storage space	1,100 million m³

The Enguri dam (also Russian Inguri dam) is the barrier structure of a dam on the Enguri River in Svaneti in western Georgia . It is on or near the border with Abkhazia . Georgia and Abkhazia operate it together.

With a width of 750 meters and a height of 271.5 meters, the dam is the mightiest structure in the Caucasus . It is also the highest arch dam in the world and currently the third highest completed dam. It was built by the Georgian company Hydromscheni.

history

The dam was put into operation in 1988 after a 20-year construction period, and in parts as early as 1978. The wall consists of interlocking concrete blocks that were placed on reinforced shell limestone . The reservoir holds 1.1 billion cubic meters of water and has a surface area of 13.13 square kilometers. The associated underground Enguri hydropower plant produces around 4.5 billion kilowatt hours annually , around 40% of Georgia's electricity production. The capacity is 1,300 megawatts .

Due to inadequate maintenance, the dam and power station are in poor condition. A damaged overflow weir, a so-called stop log, on the dam wall loses around 500 million kilowatt hours each year, which is almost a quarter of the electricity consumption of the Georgian capital Tbilisi . The power plant currently only uses 40 percent of its capacity. Only four of the five existing generators are in operation. The Wardnili hydropower plant is operating on the Abkhaz side of the dam. It has four generators, but only one has been working since the civil war in 1993 .

Until 2006 , the dam and the power plant should be fully repaired by the Georgian side. The repair cost was estimated at $ 147 million. The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development Aid (EBRD) provided US $ 38.8 million in 1998 to repair four generators. The European Union gave a further 9.4 million euros from the TACIS program to repair another generator and the defective overflow.

After repair work, the capacity of the Inguri hydropower plant is now 950 MW (at a theoretically maximum possible 1300 MW), the water level is 510.1 meters (as of early 2010).