On the economic significance of Dneprostroy of Ukraine

Archive: Kommunist, organ of the Central Committee and the Kharkov Provincial Committee of the CP(b)U, No. 161(1649), July 17, 1925

On the economic significance of Dneprostroy

(report by Professor I. G. Alexandrov at the conference on the power supply of Ukraine)

July 17, 1925

Further, the conference heard a report by Professor Alexandrov on the economic significance of Dneprostroy. The speaker pointed out that electrical construction on the Dnieper would give the vast region cheap electricity, the cost of which would be 0.7 kopecks per kilowatt-hour. Even if the energy is brought to Kharkov (300 kilometers from the station), the tariff will still not exceed 1.5 kopecks and will be cheaper than the tariffs of existing stations.

Locking the rapids of the Dnieper will make it possible to use the Dnieper to increase trade and significantly reduce the tariff for a number of goods. A continuous through route will be opened from the upper reaches of the river to the Black Sea for rafting of timber, grain, for the delivery of oil, for the transport of coal, etc. In connection with this, the work of the Kherson port will expand.

The profitability of the station for agriculture is obvious. It will facilitate the marketing of agricultural products in the regions of the Dnieper and will significantly reduce the cost of industrial products. The station, with a capacity of 220,000 kilowatts, will be used not only for irrigating fields, but also for lighting villages and mechanizing field cultivation and food processing.

The natural conditions of the Dnieper for the purposes of electrical construction are the best in the entire Union. It is planned to allocate 130 million rubles for the construction, and for the first year, 8.5 million rubles will be required to start work ... The total profit that the station can give the state annually from saving industry and developing commodity and freight turnover is 48 million rubles. The income of the station itself is estimated at 16 million rubles. Thus, construction costs will be covered in the first two and a half years.

The station is fully provided with applications for energy from the industry, mainly metallurgical and aluminum. The question of profitability of the station is no longer in doubt. The question arises of the need to speed up the work, since the development of industry will go very quickly and the need for electricity will increase. The speaker believes that at the end of construction, two new units (installations) will have to be installed at the station.

To complete the work in 1930/31, an additional 22 million rubles will be required, since the construction of the station will cause the ringing of the Yekaterinoslav and Krivoy Rog regions, the construction of several thermal stations with a capacity of 9,000 kilowatts, and the construction of two new plants - ferromanganese and aluminum.

All costs will be covered by reduced production costs.

Kommunist, organ of the Central Committee and the Kharkov Provincial Committee of the CP(b)U, No. 161(1649), July 17, 1925