Vilyuy Dam

The Vilyuy Dam (Russian: Вилюйская ГЭС; Yakut: Бүлүүтээҕи ГЭС, romanized: Bülüüteeği GES) is a large dam and hydroelectric power station on the Vilyuy River in Chernyshevsky, Mirninsky District, Sakha Republic (Yakutia), Russia. The dam was built between 1964 and 1967 to provide power for diamond mines in the area. It is located in the southern part of the Vilyuy Plateau and was one of the first of such major structures in the world to be built on permafrost. Vilyuy is reported to have the coldest operating conditions of any hydroelectric plant in the world. The dam is an embankment structure 75 metres (246 ft) high and 600 metres (2,000 ft) long, containing 5,000,000 m3 (6,500,000 yd3) of fill. Its power station has four turbines with a combined capacity of 650 MW, generating 2,710 million KWh annually.