Angara

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

For other uses, see Angara (disambiguation).

Angara River
Image:Angara watershed.png
Origin	Lake Baikal
Mouth	Yenisei River
Basin countries	Russia, Mongolia
Length	1,840 km (1,150 mi)
Source elevation	456 m
Avg. discharge	120 km³/year

The Angara (Russian: Ангара́) is a river, 1840 km (1150 miles) long, in Irkutsk Oblast and Krasnoyarsk Krai, south-east Siberia, Russia. It is the only river flowing out of Lake Baikal, and is a headwater of the Yenisei River.<ref>Angara River. Encyclopedia Britannica Online. Retrieved on 2006-10-26.</ref>

[edit] Hydroelectrity

The river has a large hydroelectric capability and is one of the world's greatest sources of hydroelectric power. There is a cascade of four hydroelectric dams (listed in orographic sequence): Irkutskaya, Bratskaya, Ust-Ilimskaya, and Boguchanskaya (the construction of the latter one is in progress).

The Bratskaya power plant is one of the largest in the world (ca. 4,500 MW), and the corresponding Bratsk Reservoir is the largest artificial lake in the world. It's dam is 160 meters high. The Irkutskaya power plant has a power of 660 MW.<ref>Kodar. Retrieved on 2006-10-26.</ref>