The Dnieper cascade of hydroelectric power plants was transferred to reduced capacity due to the destruction of the Kakhovskaya HPP

On June 10, the Ukrhydroenergo company announced in its Telegram channel that the hydroelectric power plants of the Dnieper cascade were transferred to reduced capacities in order to minimize the consequences of the destruction of the Kakhovskaya hydroelectric power station. More than a third of the water from the Kakhovka reservoir has been lost.

Kakhovskaya HPP is one of the six hydroelectric power plants of the Dnieper cascade. It also includes the Kiev, Kanev, Kremenchug, Dneprodzerzhinsk and Dnieper hydroelectric power stations. Kakhovskaya HPP had the smallest installed capacity among them – 335 MW.

By 06:00 on June 10, the level of the Kakhovka reservoir near Nikopol was 10.55 m. By 12:00, the company said, the water level had dropped to 10.2 m, almost 1.2 m lower than the previous day.

Director General of Ukrhydroenergo Igor Sirota said that water intake to settlements is impossible at a level of 12.7 m. The head of the Kherson Regional Military Administration Alexander Prokudin said today that since June 6, when the dam of the Kakhovskaya hydroelectric power station broke through, the water level in the reservoir has decreased by 6.25 m

As a result of the breakthrough of the dam of the Kakhovskaya hydroelectric power station, an uncontrolled discharge of water occurred, which flooded the settlements on both sides of the Dnieper. The Kakhovka reservoir, in particular, ensures the operation of the cooling pond of the Zaporizhzhya NPP. In addition, since March 2022, water from the Dnieper has been supplied to Crimea through the North Crimean Canal.

For more information about the situation at the Kakhovskaya hydroelectric power station, see Kommersant’s article “Dam with Two Ends”.

Lusine Balasyan