The Dospat–Vacha Hydroelectric Cascade ( Bulgarian : Каскада "Доспат–Въча" ) is situated in the western Rhodope Mountains of southern Bulgaria , on the territory of the Smolyan , Pazardzhik and Plovdiv Provinces . It is owned by the National Electricity Company . The cascade was constructed between 1963 and 2010 by "Hydrostroy".
31-667: With catchment area of 2,083 km spanning from an altitude of 2,191 m at the summit of Golyam Perelik to 420 m at the Krichim Reservoir , it is among Bulgaria's most complex hydropower systems. The cascade receives water from several river drainages, mostly from the Mesta , the Dospat and the Vacha . It includes five reservoirs and seven hydro power plants — Teshel , Devin , Tsankov Kamak , Orphey , Krichim and Vacha 1 and 2, with
62-466: A 51 m high open top underground water tower and a 356 m underground pressure pipeline leading the power plant. The power plant is located close to the town of Devin . It is an above-ground derivation powerplant, with two Francis turbines with a total installed capacity of 80 MW initially, later increased to 88 MW. It was inaugurated in 1984. The water from the Devin TPP flows through
93-441: A 732 m overground pipeline, a 16 km pressure tunnel, a 110 m high underground water tower with an engine room chamber and ends with a 522 m long underground pipeline to power station. En route, it receives water from the derivations of Karadzha dere (catchment area of 39 m; water discharge of 7.75 m/s) and Beldonovo dere (catchment area of 26 m; water discharge of 1.5 m/s). Teshel HPP itself
124-575: A capacity of 9.2 m/s. The water supply from the Krichim Reservoir is via an underground pressure pipeline with a length of 420 m. The Vacha 1 HPP and its upper equalizer reservoir are the oldest part of the cascade, constructed during the Interwar period by the Vacha Water Union. It was commission in 1933 with two turbine units, with another two added in 1949. It is powered by water from
155-554: A combined installed capacity of 500.2 MW, producing an average of 871 GWh annually. The Dospat–Teshel junction includes the Dospat Reservoir , the Teshel Hydro Power Plant and a system of derivations. The dam of the reservoir was constructed on the river Dospat in 1963–1969 on the territory of the towns of Dospat and Sarnitsa . With a territory of 22.1 km and a total volume of 449 million m, it
186-421: A derivation which begins from a water tower, passes through a 3.8 km pressure tunnel with a 4.4 m diameter to an open underground water tower with a height of 50 m, and from there it is fed to the engine room of the power plant via a pressure pipeline. It has two Francis turbines with a total installed capacity of 80 MW. The average water fall is 162 m and the maximum water discharge capacity
217-422: A reverse slope, so that the pumping unit of the power plant may use water returned from the Krichim Reservoir downstream. The Krichim junction is the lowest and final part of the cascade and consists of the Krichim Reservoir and three hydro power plants. The reservoir receives water from the dams upstream, as well as from the derivation of Churenska reka from the neighbouring Parvenetska reka drainage. Its dam
248-461: A variety of maladies: conditions of the skeletal, peripheral nervous, cardiovascular and pulmonary systems, skin disorders and others. In addition to these, the water is drunk or inhaled in the treatment of respiratory diseases, allergies and infections. The conditions available in Devin make it a centre for recovery and stabilising health. A popular brand of mineral water being sold under the name Devin
279-475: A volume of 1.4 million m. The water of the reservoir is directed to the main pressure derivation of the Devin HPP, which also receives inflow from the rivers Trigradska reka (3.7 m/s) and Muglenska reka (3.3 m/s) through a 970 m tunnel. The derivation itself includes a 27.4 m high water tower in the dam, a 145 m tunnel, a 335 m open pressure pipeline, an 8.5 km pressure tunnel,
310-591: Is 420 m. Within the dam wall is constructed the Orphey Pumped Storage Hydro Power Plant , equipped with four Francis turbines with a combined installed capacity of 160 MW. The average water fall is 112 m and the maximum water discharge is 168 m/s. The water processed by the Orphey HPP enters the bed of the Vacha river, which in an 840 m section of length has been corrected with
341-505: Is 46 m and the maximum water discharge is 3.12 m/s; and finally Osina , which gathers water from the river Osina at an altitude of 1,210 m; it has a length of 12.2 km; the catchment area is 49 m and the maximum water discharge is 1.6 m/s. The main pressure derivation of the Teshel HPP begins from a water tower behind the left side of the Dospat dam and continues with
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#1732870067594372-413: Is 60 m/s. The Vacha 2 HPP was put into operation in 1972 to utilize the fall between the then-newly built Krichim Reservoir upstream and the old equalizer reservoir of the Vacha 1 HPP downstream. It is located between the two reservoirs, in the territory of the village of Zhrebichko . There are two Francis turbines with a combined installed power capacity of 7 MW, an average fall of 82 m and
403-559: Is bottled there. The situation of Devin offers access to nearby gorges, rock formations, caves, forests, natural reserves with protected and endemic species, and most of all, clean air. Namely Trigrad gorge , the Devil's Throat Cave and Yagodinska cave . The Trigrad-Yagodina region has a karst scenery and has tens of other, albeit inhospitable, caves and rock formations. The protected region "Chairité" attracts visitors with an abundance of lakes, meadows and spruce and beech forests, one of which
434-510: Is called "the Drunken Forest" (Bulgarian: Пияната гора.) "Kastraklii", "Kazanite" and "Shabanitza" are natural reserves in the region around Devin with centuries-old pine and spruce forests and protected plant and animal communities. There is a great deal of hydroelectric construction in the area. Agriculture is highly developed. Dairy cattle rearing, fish farming, mushroom picking and cultivation, potato growing and others are of significance to
465-576: Is located on the territory of the village of Borino . It has two Francis turbines with a total installed capacity of 60 MW and was put into operation in 1972. Its utilized water from flows directly into its lower equalizer, which forms part of the second level of the cascade. The main facilities of the Teshel junction are the Teshel Reservoir , the Devin Hydro Power Plant . The reservoir
496-463: Is located on the territory of the village of Borino and Yagodina upstream of the village of Teshel . It was inaugurated in 1984 and serves as a daily equalizer. Apart from the waters of the Teshel HPP, it receives inflow from Vacha ’s main stem the Buynovska reka via a derivation with a capacity of 6 m/s. The dam is 30 m high and 200 m long and forms a lake with an area of 0.1 km and
527-572: Is named after Golyam Perelik. Devin, Bulgaria Devin ( Bulgarian : Девин [ˈdɛvin] ) is a spa town in Smolyan Province in the far south of Bulgaria . It is the administrative centre of the homonymous Devin Municipality . As of December 2009, the town had a population of 7,054. Devin is located in the valley of the Vacha River , 45 km from the city of Smolyan , at
558-517: Is one of the largest in Bulgaria and serves as a multiannual leveler of the whole cascade. It has a stone dam with a clay core, reaching a height of 60.5 m and a length of 230 m, located at an altitude of 1,200.5 m. Apart from the homonymous river, the Dospat Reservoir gathers water from three derivations — Vishteritsa–Kanina , which gathers water from several right tributaries of
589-451: Is powered by a water quantity of 69.5 m/s. It has two Francis turbines with a total installed capacity of 86.4 MW and a projected annual production of 198 GWh. It is fed with waters from the reservoir from an open intake in its arm in the former bed of the Gashnya river, from where they are directed through a 600 m underground pressure steel pipeline. During the construction of
620-599: Is the highest peak in the Rhodope Mountains , situated 19 km to the west of Smolyan . It makes the Rhodopes the seventh highest Bulgarian mountain range after Rila , Pirin , Stara Planina , Vitosha , Osogovo and Slavyanka . The peak is easily accessible, but currently cannot be climbed because a unit of the Bulgarian Army is stationed in its vicinity. Perelik Point on Robert Island , South Shetland Islands
651-625: The Bulgarian unification with Eastern Rumelia in 1885, Bulgaria occupied Tamrash with the intent of reintegrating the territories, but the Ottoman recognition of Bulgaria's new borders ( de facto independent though nominally vassal of Ottoman Empire) meant that Devin - with the rest of the Tamrash region and most of Kardzhali region - would be handed over to the Ottoman Empire. It was a kaza centre in
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#1732870067594682-564: The Mesta, including the Vishteritsa and the Kanina at an altitude of 1,240 m; it has a length of 18 km and flows into Dospat upstream of the reservoir; the catchment area is 146 m and the maximum water discharge is 12.22 m/s; Bistritsa , which gathers water from the rivers Chechka Bistritsa and Velichka at an altitude of 1,205 m; it has a length of 9.8 km; the catchment area
713-441: The Vacha 2 HPP supplied via a derivation, which begins from the equalizer and flows through a 4.8 km pressure tunnel and a 196 m long above-ground steel pressure pipeline. The Vacha 1 HPP has four Francis turbines with a total installed capacity of 15.4 MW, an average fall of 83 m and a capacity of 20 m/s. Golyam Perelik Golyam Perelik ( Bulgarian : Голям Перелик [ɡoˈʎam pɛrɛˈlik] )
744-421: The Vacha river. The altitude is uneven owing to the mountainous location, ranging from 684 m to around 800 m above sea level. Devin's climate is described as having mild winters, cool summers with prolonged spells of sunny days. The air is pleasantly cool and crisp and humidity is normal. The mean annual temperature is 4 to 10 °C, depending on altitude. The lowest winter temperature is around -10 °C while
775-575: The Vacha riverbed until the Tsankov Kamak Reservoir , where the Vacha receives its left tributaries the Devinska reka and the Gashnya . Constructed in 2010, Tsankov Kamak has a double curvature arch dam , the first on Bulgaria of this type, reaching a height of 130.5 m and a length of 486 m. It forms a lake with an area of 3.3 km and a volume of 110.9 million m. The homonymous HPP
806-415: The confluence of the rivers Vacha and Devinska reka . Devin is also at a distance of 220 km from Sofia and 70 km from Plovdiv . The town itself is located in the vicinity of the popular ski resort of Pamporovo which is 35 km east of Devin. The Devinska river runs through it and numerous other brooks and rivers (namely Krichim, Muglenska and Trigradska) are found nearby, all tributaries of
837-548: The former and are later discharged to an irrigation system in the Upper Thracian Plain that also uses water from the Batak Hydropower Cascade to the west. The water from the second route was also intended to be utilized for irrigation but the required irrigation system was never built and is currently viable only during high water. The Krichim HPP was commissioned in 1973 and is linked to the reservoir through
868-464: The local economy. Between 1878 and 1886, Devin formed a part of the short-lived and unrecognised Republic of Tamrash , an entity created by the local Pomaks who rejected the creation of Eastern Rumelia (to which it would have belonged). Although all within the Ottoman Empire , the regions were largely self-governing and Tamrash would maintain warm relations with the Ottoman authorities. Following
899-434: The maximum summer temperature is in the region of 30 to 33 °C. Devin is protected from cold and violent westerly and north westerly winds due to the ridges that surround the town. Devin is a popular tourist attraction. There is an abundance of hot springs and hence spa resorts in the area. The region was known in antiquity for the healing properties of its mineral springs. The waters have been claimed to treat and heal
930-545: The plant, a correction was made to the bed of the Vacha river below it, which further increased the water fall by 10 meters. The water from the Tsankov Kamak HPP flows through the river bed the Vacha Reservoir , which is an annual leveler. It spans a territory of 5 km and contains 226.2 million m of water. Its dam is the highest in Bulgaria, reaching 144.5 m, and is a concrete gravity structure. Its length
961-508: Was constructed in 1963–1972 in concrete and has a height of 104.5 m and a length of 270 m. It forms a lake with an area of 0.8 km and a volume of 20.3 million m that winds for 4 km along the narrow canyon-like valley of the Vacha river. Its waters are diverted via two separate routes — one to the Krichim Hydro Power Plant and another to the Vacha 1 and 2 Hydro Power Plants. The main output flows through