{"id":1910,"date":"2025-06-10T10:25:55","date_gmt":"2025-06-10T10:25:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cesustasti.lv\/?post_type=product&p=1910"},"modified":"2025-07-07T20:16:19","modified_gmt":"2025-07-07T20:16:19","slug":"house-of-the-vanadzinis-copy-copy-copy-copy-copy-2","status":"publish","type":"product","link":"https:\/\/cesustasti.lv\/en\/visi-stasti\/house-of-the-vanadzinis-copy-copy-copy-copy-copy-2\/","title":{"rendered":"C\u0113sis power station"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Construction of the C\u0113sis power station, or “steam central” as it was initially called, began in 1911 and was up and running by 1912. The heart of the power station consisted of two LANZ steam lokomobiles with 45 kW and 30 kW capacity, which used belt drives to power AEG company’s 440 V direct current 80 A and 60 A generators. The generators mainly ran during daylight hours, but after 11 PM, the power grid was switched to an additional battery system. <\/p>\n

In 1917-1918, a new feature was added to the power station’s silhouette \u2013 a 45-meter high brick chimney that replaced the earlier sheet metal chimney and became one of the city’s landmarks. At this time, the power station served around 300 customers, with electricity primarily used for lighting. The total length of the electrical network reached 7 kilometers, mainly serving the city center. <\/p>\n

The first power station employees were engineer Helmanis, technician Kalni\u0146\u0161, electrician Gr\u0101velis, and the 16-year-old apprentice Voldem\u0101rs Bl\u016bms. Special mention goes to Mr. Bl\u016bms, who worked at the power station for almost his entire life \u2013 72 years (until 1987). He witnessed all the changes at the power station. <\/p>\n

In the twenties, the rapidly growing demand for electricity led the C\u0113sis city board to decide to build a hydroelectric power station on the Amata river at K\u0101r\u013ci mill. In 1925, the Amata hydroelectric power station began producing energy and was connected to the city with a 6 kV transmission line. By then, C\u0113sis already had a 17-kilometer long high-voltage network and approximately 880 customers <\/p>\n

In 1929, the Amata and Brasla hydroelectric power stations started working in a common power grid, eliminating the electricity shortage in C\u0113sis. However, the C\u0113sis central station continued to operate in the direct current power grid, and only in 1930 was the conversion to alternating current completed. <\/p>\n

The modernization of the C\u0113sis power station continued in 1932, when a major reconstruction began. The old lokomobiles and all direct current equipment were dismantled and replaced with a Linke-Hofmann-Busch-Werke diesel engine connected to an AEG 6 kV alternating current generator and an ASEA-manufactured 6\/20 kV transformer. The generated electricity was fed into the 20 kV power grid. <\/p>\n

The reconstruction lasted until 1934 under the leadership of Edgars Jurevi\u010ds, an electrical engineer and head of the C\u0113sis city electricity company. During this time, many innovations were introduced, such as a water cooling tower and reservoir system for cooling diesel engines, and a gravity-operated pipeline for delivering diesel fuel from tanks at the railway station to the power station. <\/p>\n

1939. In 1939, the \u0136egums power station began operation, becoming the foundation for creating a unified energy system in Latvia with the establishment of the State Electricity Enterprise (VEU) “\u0136egums.” The new energy company’s task was to produce and distribute electricity throughout Latvia. In 1940, the VEU “\u0136egums” C\u0113sis district was established based on the C\u0113sis city electricity company. <\/p>\n

As the German occupation forces retreated, many electrical facilities in Latvia were destroyed, with restoration beginning in September 1944. In the VEU “\u0136egums” C\u0113sis district, power supply restoration began immediately after the front line moved away. Under the leadership of company employees J. Kuzmins and A. O\u0161kalns, priority was given to restoring the high-voltage line connecting C\u0113sis with the Amata and Brasla hydroelectric power stations. After just one week, electricity was provided to the most important consumers in C\u0113sis during morning and evening hours. <\/p>\n

The repair of the C\u0113sis power station’s diesel engine required longer restoration work. It was put in working order and started only at the beginning of November. However, its operation was very limited due to fuel shortages. After using up the remaining fuel in the tanks, fuel was only available from military units. <\/p>\n

Hoping to cover the electricity deficit, C\u0113sis energy district employees also helped restore the L\u012bgatne paper factory power station (3000 kVA). However, this was only partially successful. Although the L\u012bgatne power station was incorporated as a local system base station, its capacity was mainly needed for the L\u012bgatne paper factory and could only help other consumers to a small extent. <\/p>\n

1946. In the autumn of 1946, after the restoration of the Ieri\u0137i 80\/20 kV substation, the C\u0113sis and Valmiera power grids were connected to the common republic energy system. Although the permitted capacity of 1000 kW was far from satisfying the total needs, it still made it possible to significantly expand the number of consumers. At the end of that same year, the Valmiera and C\u0113sis electricity companies were merged to form the USSR Ministry of Power Stations district administration LATENERGO Valmiera energy district with its center in Valmiera. <\/p>\n

The story of the C\u0113sis power station ended in 1949 due to broken connecting rod bolts in the diesel engine. The damage was serious, and it was decided not to restore it since the C\u0113sis power grid was already connected to the common republic energy system. From 1962 to 1988, the C\u0113sis power station building (partially demolished and rebuilt) housed the administration of the C\u0113sis network district, which was previously located at 20 R\u012bgas Street. <\/p>\n

The materials used for the description are:
\n<\/em>Energy Museum Collection<\/a>
\nBook “Northern Electric Networks 60. 1940-2000”, edited by Ilgvars Staltmanis, 2000 Latvian Energy System History 4th Conference Report: Collection of Articles \/ Edited by Ilgvars Staltmanis.
\nC\u0113sis Museum and Latvian National Library collections
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The diesel fuel delivery to the C\u0113sis power station was set up quite cleverly – a special pipeline was built from the tanks at the railway station to the power station, allowing the fuel to flow by gravity, without using any pumps.<\/p>\n

The power station apprentice Voldem\u0101rs Bl\u016bms probably set a Latvian record for working at a single company – he worked at the C\u0113sis power station from 1915 to 1987, dedicating 72 years of his life to this institution! <\/p>\n

Facts<\/strong><\/h3>\n
    \n
  • 1911: Construction of the C\u0113sis power station (“steam central”) began<\/li>\n
  • 1912: Power station started operating with two LANZ steam locomobiles and AEG direct current generators<\/li>\n
  • 1917-1918: A 45 m high brick chimney was built for the power station to replace the sheet metal chimney<\/li>\n
  • 1923: C\u0113sis city board made a decision to build a hydroelectric power station on the Amata river<\/li>\n
  • 1925: Amata hydroelectric power station began producing energy, connected to the city<\/li>\n
  • 1929: Amata and Brasla hydroelectric power stations started working in a common power grid<\/li>\n
  • 1930: Completion of the C\u0113sis power station reconstruction for operation in the alternating current power grid<\/li>\n
  • 1932-1934: Reconstruction of the C\u0113sis power station took place<\/li>\n
  • 1940: In July, the enterprise VEU “\u0136egums” C\u0113sis district <\/em>was established based on the C\u0113sis city electricity company<\/li>\n
  • 1944: After the front line moved away, electrical power restoration work began<\/li>\n
  • 1946: C\u0113sis power grid was connected to the common republic energy system<\/li>\n
  • 1946: Valmiera and C\u0113sis electricity companies were merged, creating the Valmiera energy district<\/li>\n
  • 1949: C\u0113sis power station stopped working due to broken connecting rod bolts in the diesel engine<\/li>\n
  • 1962-1988: The administration of the C\u0113sis network district operated in the rebuilt building of the C\u0113sis power station<\/li>\n
  • Present day: The power station building has not survived<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":1912,"template":"","meta":[],"product_brand":[],"product_cat":[204,244],"product_tag":[334,332,333,208],"class_list":{"0":"post-1910","1":"product","2":"type-product","3":"status-publish","4":"has-post-thumbnail","6":"product_cat-cesis-house","7":"product_cat-productions","8":"product_tag-electricity","9":"product_tag-power-station","10":"product_tag-production","11":"product_tag-us","13":"first","14":"instock","15":"shipping-taxable","16":"product-type-simple"},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cesustasti.lv\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product\/1910","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cesustasti.lv\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cesustasti.lv\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/product"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cesustasti.lv\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1912"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cesustasti.lv\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1910"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"product_brand","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cesustasti.lv\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product_brand?post=1910"},{"taxonomy":"product_cat","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cesustasti.lv\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product_cat?post=1910"},{"taxonomy":"product_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cesustasti.lv\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product_tag?post=1910"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}