From the History of Urban Electric Networks
The beginning of the electrification of Akmolinsk is associated with the western part of Abay Avenue (before 1920, this avenue was called Tserkovnaya Street, and before 1991 – Lenin Street). In the middle of the block, not far from the current nine-story residential building at № 27 Abay Avenue, there once stood a small stone shop. In 1928, an internal combustion engine and a dynamo machine with a capacity of 18 kW were installed in this building.
This was the first state power station in Akmolinsk. It operated in a single shift. In the evenings, curious children would gather near the wide-open doors of the power station, watching the mechanic at work: how the diesel wheel spun, how the wide transmission belt hissed and clicked, how the dynamo hummed, and how exhaust gases were rhythmically and loudly expelled into an iron pipe…
The total length of the power transmission line was 8 km, and electricity was supplied exclusively for lighting government institutions. Akmolinsk experienced a severe shortage of electricity. Therefore, on January 7, 1932, the City Council adopted the following regulatory resolution: "For lighting premises of institutions, enterprises, and organizations, the maximum allowable wattage per light bulb is set at no more than 60 watts, and for private apartments – no more than 30 watts. The use of electricity for heating, cooking, boiling water, and charging batteries is prohibited. Unauthorized increases in the number of lighting points above the norms permitted by the power station are also forbidden."
Only in 1940, with the installation of more powerful generators (60 kW), did the Akmolinsk City Power Station (GorEnergo) move to a brick building that had previously been the Shestakov Mechanical Mill (in the courtyard of the building of JSC "Astanaenergoservice," at 41 Otyrar (Ordzhonikidze) Street).
By the winter of 1948, a locomobile LM-7 from the Lyudinovsky Plant, equipped with a 150 kW generator, was put into operation. At the same time, an extension was built, and a second 150 kW generator, brought from Semipalatinsk, was installed.
The Pump Factory was powered by its own diesel power station, which was also located on the territory of GorEnergo. The Car Repair Plant (CRP) was also supplied with electricity from its own diesel power station. Railway consumers were supplied with energy from the railway power station in the depot area and from a diesel generator installed next to the railway administration building.
In 1948, during preparations for the Central Power Station (CPS) of the KazakhSelMash plant, a 6 kV overhead power line was constructed from the CPS to the GorEnergo 6 kV substation and transformer substations (6/0.4 kV) near the drama theater (108 kVA), the city bathhouse (TP-3, 320 kVA), and along Dzhangildin Street (180 kVA). Overhead 6 kV lines on metal supports were commissioned for the routes "GorEnergo-Airport" and "GorEnergo-CRP," as well as street lighting networks. In the 1950s, GorEnergo was reorganized into GorElectroSet, with Ilchenko I.V. appointed as director and Sizukhin B.S. as chief engineer.
