Off-line meeting at Sakuma Dam (January 25, 2004)

Originally, I was told by Mr. Abebe of "Yugon the Cat" that "Sakuma Dam will be closed, so we will have an off-line meeting before that! I was originally told by Mr. Abebe of "Cat's Yugon" that "Sakuma Dam will be closed, so we'll have an off-line meeting before that! We decided to join the party, and in the end, there were over 20 of us! And there was even a TV interview.... It was the first off-line meeting I had ever attended in my life, so I was half anxious and half hopeful, but it turned out to be a very valuable experience and a very memorable one.

water turbine

first (of all)Fumigation damWe will meet at theAkihabara DamThe MBS Mainichi Broadcasting System (MBS Mainichi Broadcasting Corporation) accompanied us for the coverage. MBS Mainichi Broadcasting System (MBS) accompanied us to each of them for the program coverage. I was even interviewed at the Akiba Dam, but it was cut out of the program (relief). At the meeting place, Funaaki Dam, I did it. I thought they might be participants of the off-line meeting, but when I went to greet them, it turned out to be a crew from MBS (explosion).

Now, after Akiba Dam, go to Sakuma Dam. We will go directly into the Sakuma Denryoku-kan (Sakuma Electric Power Museum). The photo on the left shows a water wheel that was once used at the power station.

water turbine

These waterwheels are located in front of "Sakuma Denryokan". They are very large. It is a pity that there is nothing to compare and contrast, but the diameter is 3.8m.

View of the entrance to Sakuma Denryokan

I have visited Sakuma Dam several times before, but always coming eastward from Habu Dam, I could not enter the Sakuma Denryoku Kan (Sakuma Electric Power Museum) every time because it was late in the evening when I arrived at Sakuma Dam and it was after closing time. If I had not been invited to the off-line meeting this time, I would not have been able to see it forever....

By the way, we are going to visit various places after this tour in this microbus. Many thanks to Denpatsu-sama.

Once inside, the first thing to do was to have lunch. Eels, a specialty of Shizuoka, were included. A nice touch. Many thanks to Denpatsu-sama.

After that, the tour of the power station was completed with a video screening by Denpatsu-sama, a talk by the director, and an exciting dam quiz and treasure boasting by MBS Mainichi Broadcasting System (the dam quiz is also said to have been cut...).

In the talk, he talked about why Sakuma Dam (Tenryu River system) has terrible sedimentation. In fact, Sakuma should be featured more than Kurobe in Project X (laugh).

model

Well, that's how we toured the Electric Power Museum, and the first thing that caught my attention was the model of the dam. I think it is movable, but since we did not have much time, I did not actually see it in detail.

model

It is quite nicely made. I wonder if this was also movable? The gate is slightly unbalanced, but I'll call it charming.

model

This is also quite complete. This is a view of Sakuma Dam under construction. It seems to be faithfully reproduced.

Ice Pillar (?)

The rooftop of the Electric Power Pavilion is an observation deck, so I attempted to take pictures from there. The observatory has a very good view and I never get tired of looking at it. The water seeping from the rocky cliffs had frozen and formed beautiful icicles (?). I was also taking pictures of it. I tried to take a picture of it, but I couldn't understand what it was...

View of the embankment (dam lake side) from the observation deck

The view from the observation deck is spectacular. The dam looks like a model.

corridor connecting an annex to a pond-side building (in traditional palatial-style architecture)

Now, the group moved from the powerhouse to the inside of the levee, just below the levee. This was the first time in my life to go inside the levee. I was very nervous.
The photo on the left shows the audit corridor. The audit corridor was wonderfully lean.

View of the levee from just below the downstream side of the levee

This view is also my first. I am so sorry that I cannot express the size of the dam because I am not a good photographer. It was such a precious experience for me to see such a huge dam from the bottom. It is a very precious experience.

View of the reduction work

I had always only seen the area directly below Sakuma Dam from above, but I never thought I would see the reduction works so up close!

View of the reduction work

The force-reducing structure was a structure that I have not seen in other dams. This structure is said to serve as a buffer to prevent damage to the riverbed caused by the discharge of water.

Stairs leading to just below the embankment

Comedy duo Buffalo Goro and a crew from MBS also came down. Can you tell the size of the dam from this picture?

valve

Hmmm, what was the valve called...? Hollow jet valve? Howell banger valve? It was also my "first" time to see a valve up close like this.

View of the left bank from just below the dike

The building in the upper left is the Electric Power Building. It looks so small.

MBS interview crew

These are the so-called gyokai people.

Goro Buffalo.

He took a picture of the tee with his cell phone and the two of them looked at it together in good humor. I am happy to see that they too were interested in the dam.

corridor connecting an annex to a pond-side building (in traditional palatial-style architecture)

Now, we will return to the top end from just below the dike. This is a view of the audit corridor taken at that time. The vinyl on the floor is probably to feed air for the work.

Elevator leading directly below

This elevator is also not usually seen. Come to think of it, this is the "first time" for me to ride in an elevator attached to a dam like this.

After this, we were transferred by microbus from Sakuma Dam to the power plant.

Water flowing out of the power plant

Now, the power plant. The first power plant seems to be under maintenance, so he took us to the second power plant.

This water flows from the power plant and empties into the Tenryu River. In other words, it is water that has been worked.

Various Machines

There are various machines, but I have no idea what they are for. Even if I try my best to listen to the explanation, it is beyond the capacity of my brain.

wire

Well, anyway, all I can tell you is that it is big (open and shut).

Underground of power plant

It is a very large and extraordinary space. You can hear the sound of the machine working.

water turbine

In addition, a water wheel is housed in the basement. However, it is not visible at all because it is designed to be covered up. The gurgling sound can be heard from here. The water must be flowing through here at a great speed, but there is no leakage at all.

nameplate

I don't know much about electricity.... I am not good at science or chemistry at all....

crane

The crane is also huge. It seems to be used for maintenance.

look up at the ceiling

Above this is the ground level. It looks like materials are being lowered from here by a crane outside. Nevertheless, you can see that we are in a very deep place now.

elevator tower

We are back on the ground.

By the way, it seems that the elevators here have a difference in frequency, and sometimes during the elevator ride, the frequency of the electricity suddenly changes from 50Hz to 60Hz, so the elevator does not stop at the correct position.... When you get off the elevator, there is sometimes a big difference between the two.... Such things are unique episodes of this place.

crane

This crane is used to lower the unit into the underground power plant. The lower cover appears to be a sliding type.

Various machines...

I wonder if it will be chattering if I touch it... (death)

Thyristor valve in frequency converter station

Next, we will move on to the "frequency conversion station," of which there are only two in Japan. One is located here in Sakuma and the other in Shin-Shinano, Nagano Prefecture. The reason why these facilities are necessary is that there used to be many electric power companies in Japan, and they were divided into two distinct regions: Eastern Japan was switched to 50Hz with European technology, and Western Japan was switched to 60Hz with American technology. There have been several attempts to unify these frequencies across the country, but due to the enormous amount of time and expense involved, they were ultimately unable to do so, and so they have been forced to use frequency conversion technology to cover their disadvantages.

Explanation with thyristor valve

Hmmm. I still find the electricity thing difficult.... I can't digest it....

Various machines

This is another machine required for frequency conversion. It used to be managed by human resources, but now it is mostly automated and no longer needs constant monitoring. It is a triumph of science!

summary

This concludes this year's Sakuma Dam Off-line Meeting. I had a really valuable experience this time. I also felt that my inexperience was exposed, and I learned a lot.

I would like to thank Abebe-san and Miyajima-san for their efforts in setting up the off-line meeting, Power Supply Development for providing such a venue, and Buffalo Goro and the MBS staff for their support. We thank you from the bottom of our hearts.

Participating Sites

cooperation