Genrikh Graftio

Who is Genrikh Graftio?

Genrikh Osipovich Graftio was a Russian engineer credited as a pioneer of the hydroelectric station construction in Soviet Union, as one of the founders of the GOELRO plan, and notable for the construction of the first hydroelectric stations in the Soviet Union, the Volkhov Hydroelectric Station in Volkhov and the Lower Svir Hydroelectric Station in Svirstroy.

Genrikh Graftio graduated from the Imperial Novorossiya University in Odessa in 1892 and the Peterburg Institute of Transport Engineers in 1896, where he was teaching since 1907. In 1921, he was appointed a professor at this university. Between 1896 and 1900 he was intern in Europe and USA, studying the power equipment.

In 1900, Graftio created the first project of the electrified railway in Russia, which was never realized. In 1906, he was charged with developing an electric tram network in Saint Petersburg, then the capital of the Russian Empire, which was opened in 1907. Since 1905, he was involved in project design of hydroelectric stations. In 1905, he designed a project of a power plant on the Vuoksi River, and in 1910-1911 Graftio designed the power plant on the Volkhov River, which was only realized in 1927.