Resumption of Construction of the Lebedinovskaya Hydroelectric Power Station on the Bolshoy Chuy in 1942

In April 1942, the Soviet People's Commissariat and the Central Committee of the VKP(b) of Kyrgyzstan appealed to the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR and the Central Committee of the VKP(b) for the resumption of construction of the Lebedinovskaya Hydroelectric Power Station on the Bolshoy Chuy Canal in 1942, with the first phase capacity of 4,200 kW (construction had begun in May 1941, but due to the wartime situation, work was temporarily suspended).

A special commission of the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR, with the participation of professors M. V. Keldysh (later an academician, president of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR from 1962 to 1975), Dmokhovsky, and associate professor Kusakin, studied the potential capabilities of the hydroelectric station under construction and determined:

“1. On the western canal, 82% of the earthworks have been completed, and 52 reinforced concrete pipes have been built; in its current state, the canal cannot be used and has disrupted the corresponding irrigation network, causing marshy areas and may gradually fall into disrepair; the funds invested in the construction of the canal—33 million rubles—are immobilized; all this requires the completion of the western canal.

2. Considering the catastrophic situation of the city of Frunze regarding energy supply, which is especially exacerbated by the necessity to put into operation a number of evacuated enterprises in the city of Frunze that are working for defense, it is advisable to link the completion of the western canal with the construction of a hydroelectric station on it.”

On June 6, 1942, the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR adopted a resolution on the construction of the Lebedinovskaya Hydroelectric Power Station on the western branch of the Bolshoy Chuy Canal. For this purpose, the necessary funds, construction materials were allocated, and assistance was provided for the design of the station and the installation of all equipment.

Workers from the capital and more than 1,500 collective farmers from the Frunze, Osh, and Jalal-Abad regions participated in the rapid construction. The construction took place under exceptionally difficult conditions: almost all types of earthworks were carried out manually. As a result of tremendous effort, by the end of 1942, the construction of the hydroelectric station was largely completed.

Difficult situation with electricity supply in the first period of the Great Patriotic War in Kyrgyzstan