#ARCTIC. #SIBERIA. THIS IS TAIMYR. In 1939, the construction of the Norilsk Combined Heat and Power plant began. Before, there was a temporary power plant in the village: in the early 1940s, WPS-2 operated in an outrageous mode, but produced only 7 300 kilowatts – catastrophically little for expanding production.
In 1939, specialists from the Teploelektroproekt Institute Leningrad branch developed a technical design for the Norilsk CHPP with a final capacity of 75 000 kilowatts per hour. The place for the thermal power plant was chosen at a rocky outcrop – on Pestsovaya Sopka (Polar Fox Hill).
On June 15, 1941, the first metal structures of the CHPP building were installed. In July 1941, a separate camp was opened for the construction.
People worked for wear and tear: earthworks on rocky and permafrost soil were carried out manually, compressors and perforators were received only at the end of navigation. Due to non-fulfillment of the plan for earthworks, the construction of foundations and metal structures was delayed.
Nevertheless, in mid-January 1942, the installation of the main building was completed. The missing equipment – conveyors, dust pipelines, gas pipelines, lining and thermal insulation bricks – all this was made in Norilsk.
Simultaneously with the main seven-story building, a service building, a control panel, and a distribution substation were built. On December 13, 1942, the first whistle of the CHPP rang out.
Until 1970, the Norilsk CHPP operated on coal: in its first photographs you can see the gallery of coal supply (on the main photo above).
In the last issue of the History Spot photo project we told about Mikhail Kim, thanks to whom Norilsk was built six times faster.
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Text: Svetlana Samohina, Photo: Nornickel Polar Division archive
