Enguri HPP — a synthesis of unique architecture, natural landscape and immense tourism potential

The arch dam was commissioned on 22 December 1977. That is where the long life of Enguri HPP began. Building the arch dam and damming the river Enguri created the Jvari reservoir, with a volume of one billion one hundred million cubic metres.

The arch dam was commissioned on 22 December 1977. That is where the long life of Enguri HPP began. Building the arch dam and damming the river Enguri created the Jvari reservoir, with a volume of one billion one hundred million cubic metres.

The shape and dimensions of the arch dam, impressive as they are, also raised natural and reasonable questions: despite that scale, would the dam withstand the pressure of one billion one hundred million cubic metres of water?

The hydrologists’ answer was firm and unequivocal: “A fortress as impenetrable as a granite wall will be built. Future generations will see this dam as the most complex and most magnificent structure of the twentieth century!”

The arch dam of Enguri HPP is a hydraulic structure that closes off the valley of the river Enguri in its upper reaches. It stands five kilometres from the town of Jvari. The Enguri HPP arch dam is a concrete structure 271.5 metres high, with a crest length of 728 metres.