Basing on the principles of historicism and objective analysis the article examines the features and problems of implementing two state electrification plans: GOELRO plan adopted 100 years ago, under which the construction of local power plants in the Middle Volga region began, and the General Plan for the USSR Electrification, approved in 1932, which laid down the main solutions to radically redevelop the industry and agriculture of the region on the basis of using the sources of hydroelectric power, constructed on the Volga. In this regard, the historical and comparative method made it possible to highlight the main stages in creation and development of the power system of the Chuvash Republic, which since the mid 1950s has acted as a central a link in the country’s unified electric power system. The idea of creating energy hubs of the Volga Cascade, which in the years that followed provided the rise of industrial and agricultural production of the region, was based on the need for the priority development of the integrated power grid taking into account a strictly defined sequence of regional power plant construction, however, these aspects of implementing the electrification plans are not exampled in the domestic historical literature devoted to the reform of the energy industry. The article notes the pivotal role of scientific and technical cooperation between Leningrad and Cheboksary power engineers and instrument makers in solving the most complicated tasks in times of peace and during the war, it considers the contribution of Chuvash power engineers, who provided the construction and modernization of dozens of trunk transmission lines, which made it possible to fully implement the country’s electrification plan and to ensure energy security of the region.
100 YEARS OF ELECTRIFICATION: HISTORICAL EXPERIENCE AND MODERN CHALLENGES
