Electrification of Altai (late XIX – 50s of XX centuries) in Russian historiography

Chudosai Danil Evgen'evich Postgraduate student; Department of Historiography, Source Studies and Methods of Historical Research; Altai State University 656000, Russia, Altai Territory, Barnaul, 145 Krupskaya str., sq. 74 Dann.99@bk.ru

Introduction

In the Russian historical literature, issues related to energy as a component of industrialization have always occupied a prominent place. Both in the Soviet and modern periods of the development of historical science, works devoted to the issues of electrification of our country were published with enviable regularity. During the existence of the USSR, researchers, impressed by the success of the implementation of the GOELRO plan and subsequent industrialization, mostly focused on the achievements of the Soviet economy and industry, comparing them with the pre-revolutionary state of the country, and analyzed the growth rates in subsequent time periods. In post-Soviet historiography, subjects that had often remained in the shadows before often became the subject of attention: pre-revolutionary energy, the history of individual energy enterprises, the costs of electrification, etc.

The electrification of the country has been reflected in Russian historiography. Of interest is the article by I.M. Nekrasova ^[1], in which the author, having analyzed Soviet historiography, divided it into 3 stages, each of which was endowed with characteristic features. A special feature of the first stage (early 1920s - late 1940s) is the study of mainly technical and economic aspects of electrification. I.M. Nekrasova defined the second stage (1950s) as a period characterized primarily by a serious replenishment of the source base on the history of electrification. However, at the same time, the socio-historical issues of electrification remained unexplored. In the next, third stage (from the 1960s to the present), according to the author, both the source base of research and the range of issues under consideration have expanded.

The article by A.I. Lushin and V.V. Avdanin ^[2] analyzes the works of Soviet historians, economists and power engineers concerning the electrification of the USSR. The paper presents and examines the most significant and well-known works on energy. The authors also carefully point out all the nuances and changes that took place in the history of the Soviet historiography of the issue.

N.S. Simonov presented a comprehensive historiography on the history of the country's electrification in his work ^[3], who tried to cover and analyze all the known literature on the topic, starting with pre-revolutionary works. It is this feature that provides valuable material related to the involvement of not only numerous works of the Soviet period, but also the works of pre-revolutionary researchers related to the emerging energy sector.

It seems that most historiographical works on electrification aim to analyze works devoted to the history of the country's energy industry as a whole, while the history of the development of regional electrification often remains less studied.

Speaking about the study of the electrification of Altai, two historiographical trends can be noted, one of which is related to a detailed and detailed study of individual energy enterprises, without the task of studying and analyzing the entire existing energy system of the region. The second trend focuses on the general patterns of electrification development both within Siberia and across the country. Such works were typical of the Soviet period, when the emphasis was on successes and achievements in the development of the country's industrial power, but they lack the specifics of individual territories in the development of energy.

The purpose of this article is to identify the degree of study of the topic in the hysterical literature, as well as the stages of development of the historiography of the history of Altai energy. The historiography is based on the chronological principle.

The term "electrification" is understood by us in the broadest sense as the process of introducing electric energy into the national economy and everyday life. Also, within the framework of this definition, electrification can be understood as the process of replacing earlier energy sources (steam engines and other sources of mechanical energy) with electricity, followed by the construction of power plants, power transmission lines and the addition of electrical personnel serving this industry.

The chronological framework of the article covers the period from the end of the 19th century to the present. The lower limit begins in 1885, when the first work of mining engineer N.A. Iossa appeared ^[4], which dealt with the problem of electrification of the mining industry. The upper chronological boundary is determined by 2019, when the last notable work on Altai power engineering was published – an article by M.A. Tselisheva and M.A. Dashlyuk ^[5], devoted to the history and operation of the Barnaul Central power Plant.

The territorial scope of the article mainly includes the territory of the Altai Territory, formed in 1937. However, due to the fact that previously this territory was part of different administrative entities, the borders of which did not coincide with the borders of the modern Altai Territory ^[6], we are considering some works on neighboring regions.

The history of Altai power engineering dates back to the end of the 19th century, when the first dynamos capable of generating electricity appeared in most regions of Siberia. At first, private entrepreneurs and wealthy citizens purchased imported electrical installations for lighting mills, as opposed to unsafe kerosene lighting, which often led to fires. Later, electrical installations began to appear in cities, first in Biysk, then in Barnaul. By the beginning of the First World War, most of the municipal buildings and shops, banks and cinemas were illuminated. However, a significant part of the residential areas of Altai cities were drowning in twilight, and in rural areas the population often did not hear about electricity at all. In Barnaul and Biysk, pioneers in the field of energy were such famous nobles and merchants as the Sukhovs, Platonovs, Morozovs, Fedulovs, Bogomolovs, and others ^{[7, p. 120]}

In 1917, after a severe fire, Barnaul's energy system was seriously damaged, and during the Civil War, the operation of many energy facilities was completely suspended. Nevertheless, in the first decade of its existence, the Soviet government very vigorously sought to stop the regression and surpass the pre-revolutionary figures. In 1920, the GOELRO plan was published ^[8], where serious attention was paid to Western Siberia, but it was never implemented in Altai. Instead, the region was rebuilding what had already been destroyed by fire and war, such as a CES (central power plant), as well as building low-power electric plants, turbines and hydroelectric power plants.

The situation has changed since the early 1930s, when, in parallel with its construction, CHP-1 began to be built for the needs of the melange plant, whose capacity was increased to 36 thousand kW by the 40s. ^{[9, l. 12]}. It was the largest energy facility in the region, which provided electricity for most of the city's needs. Since the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, Altai's energy industry has been fully focused on providing energy to evacuated factories. The design capacity of CHPP-1 was increased by one and a half times, new turbo generators were completed, new energy facilities were built throughout the Altai territory, including in Biysk and Rubtsovsk, and the Barnaul CES was reconstructed. As a result, the energy industry of the region coped with the tasks set by the war. In the post–war period, local authorities continued to upgrade existing energy enterprises, build small hydroelectric power plants for rural areas, and in cities - thermal power plants that meet their needs.

Pre-revolutionary historiography

Perhaps the earliest work in the historiography we are considering is the work "Mining production in Altai", written in 1885 by mining engineer N.A. Iossa. The author stated the crisis state of the Altai industry, noting production shortcomings and the lack of modern technologies. In contrast, describing the mining industry in Germany as a visual example, N.A. Iossa singled out the presence in German factories of the latest electric dynamos from Siemens & Halske at that time as the optimal innovation capable of increasing productivity in factories, which was obviously lacking in the Altai mining industry ^[4].

However, much more often in the Russian Empire, works devoted mainly to the theoretical and practical aspects of the electric power industry were created and translated. ^[10]; ^[11]; ^[12]. Some authors have raised the issue of the legal status of energy enterprises under construction, in particular, P.A. Osadchy in his work pushed government agencies to be certain about the collection, processing and accounting of electrical statistics ^[13].

In general, pre-revolutionary historiography has left almost no significant work devoted to summarizing the historical experience of the formation of electrification in Russia. The situation was not changed even by the fact that the Russian Technical Society announced a prize for the creation of such a work. V.A. Kiselyov's book "The Electrical Industry in its Past and Present" is an exception to this background. Based on the study of special literature, reports and reports of companies and unions related to the electrical industry, the author stated the strong dependence of the Russian energy industry on German manufacturers of electric motors. At the same time, V.A. Kiselyov significantly shifted the focus to studying the history of the foreign, mainly German electric power industry, which overshadowed the topic of Russian electrification ^[14].

One of the last pre-revolutionary authors who addressed the topic of domestic energy in their articles were P. Gurevich ^[15] and E. Buchheim ^[16], who generally agreed on the need for early government intervention in energy issues. In contrast to the domestic experience, which was characterized by the presence of private capital and foreign concessions in the energy sector, the example of Kaiser's Germany was given, where the state thoroughly controlled the energy industry.

The literature published before the October Revolution has been brought to us for a general context, it is mainly devoted to the energy issues of the country as a whole. Only N.A. Iossa's work concerns Altai directly, but it rather expresses the mining engineer's point of view about the need to import electric machines to optimize production, rather than sets out the history of the region's energy sector.

Soviet historiography

After the Bolsheviks came to power, the issue of electrification was immediately brought to the state level. This was largely facilitated by the position of V.I. Lenin, who, even during the difficult years of the Civil War, vigorously insisted on immediate energy planning. His famous phrase "Communism is Soviet power plus the electrification of the whole country" ^{[17, p. 30]} gave real grounds for the ongoing work in Russia to create a plan for state electrification.

A well-known professor and heat engineer in Russia at that time, V.I. Grinevitsky, who released a study "Post-war Prospects of Russian Industry" shortly before his death, argued that the reanimation and development of industry and energy is impossible without restoring the capitalist system and attracting foreign capital. He also proposed a detailed plan for rebuilding Russia's shattered economy and its overall reconstruction, including specific technical and economic tasks that need to be addressed first. In addition, the author believed that the main direction of energy would be the development of small regional power plants running on inexpensive fuels. Then, as fuel prices rise, it will be profitable to build hydroelectric power plants on the Svir, Meta, Volkhov, Dnieper rapids and the rivers of the Caucasus. Many of his propositions were subsequently used as the basis for the GOELRO plan ^[18].

It is worth noting that during the Soviet period, a large number of works devoted to energy were published, but the majority of researchers made it their primary task to identify common patterns in the electrification of the Soviet Union, therefore, consideration of the electric power industry in certain regions, including Altai, during this period was rather an exception to the general rule.

One of the first Marxist researchers to undertake work on the promotion of domestic energy was I.I. Skvortsov-Stepanov, who wrote a special work at the suggestion of V.I. Lenin to popularize the ideas of electrification among the population of the country ^[19]. In it, the author examines the energy sector, starting with the history of technology development and foreign experience, and ending with an analysis of economic plans for individual regions. Regarding Altai, mentioned briefly in the paper, I.I. Skvortsov-Stepanov notes the high economic potential of the region, which is to be revealed in the future, in fact, agreeing with the GOELRO commission.

E.N. Ratner, one of the consultants of the USSR District Planning Department, addressed the issue of the continuity of the GOELRO plan and the first five-year plan. His work explores the impact of electrification on economic and technical changes in the national economy during the first five-year plan. The data presented by the author from the GOELRO plan were compared with the objectives of the five-year plan, after which E.N. Ratner pointed out the organic connection between the two economic plans ^[20].There are no regional aspects of the problem in the work under consideration.

For the first time, the electrification of Siberia became the object of special attention in the work of researcher B. Vasilev. The author provides both general information on electricity and global electrification, and separately focuses on the description of Siberian energy in the 1920s and early 1930s and the prospects for its development. The author pays special attention to energy logistics, electrification of industry and agriculture in the region, and also lists the energy resources of Siberia, which, according to the author, account for 4/5 of the resources of the entire USSR and 7.5% of the world's resources. Altai is mentioned in the work only sporadically, when the author recorded the provisions of the GOELRO plan for Western Siberia and mentioned plans for the construction of Ubinskaya, Argutskaya and Turgusunskaya HPPs ^[21].

It is noteworthy that in the 1930s and 1950s there was a certain "surge" in the publication of works on energy and industry in Altai. It was during the years of the "Stalinist five-year plans" that local historians and engineers produced works where the electric power industry of the region acted as one of the main subjects of attention. All of them are naturally filled with gratitude to the party-Soviet leadership and criticism of both the pre-revolutionary experience of the region's development and foreign experience. Nevertheless, they contribute to the history of Altai's energy sector, as they record real changes in the industry during this period.

For the first time in the Soviet literature, the problem of the Altai energy system was raised in the early 1930s by meliorator and engineer N.S. Michkov in his work "Ob-Kulunda integrated water management problem", which was a consequence of the beginning of industrialization of the region. The author's attention was focused on the study of possible irrigation plans for the Kulunda steppe through the construction of a hydroelectric power station and the formation of a single electric power hub between the Altai and Novosibirsk regions. In particular, the author considered several design schemes, one of which – a two–stage one – involved the construction of two hydroelectric power plants - Novosibirsk and Kamenskaya ^[22]. In fact, in subsequent years, despite repeated attempts to build the Kamenskaya HPP, it was never completed, and the Kamenskaya HPP construction project had to be curtailed ^{[23, p. 257]}. V.S. Michkov's work itself, which is obviously relevant for the first half of the 1930s, when the region was undergoing a process of accelerated industrialization and optimal plans were needed for its implementation, has a largely technical focus and provides only fragmentary information about the history of electrification and the state of the Altai power industry, focusing on the current and not going "far" back, and also pays more attention to the electrification of the Novosibirsk region. Nevertheless, in V.S. Michkov's book we can find very valuable information about regional energy planning and electrification development projects in the region.

A little later, journalist N.P. Sadamovsky, in a small brochure "Industry of the Altai Territory", states an increase in the number of electrical equipment in production during the first two five-year plans, records an increase in the number of telegraph lines, and also provides data on a multiple increase in the number of power plants in Altai in 1928-1938 to 93. The author evaluates the project of engineer V.S. Michkov on the electrification of the Kulunda steppe and the construction of the Kamenskaya hydroelectric power station as promising and believes that it is capable of turning Kulunda into the center of the chemical industry of the region ^[24].

In the following decade (1940-1950), interest in the history of steam power of the past increased in the region. Several works appeared at once on both hydraulic installations at mining plants in the XVIII century ^[25] and the activities of the most famous Altai steam engineers I.I. Polzunov ^[26] and S.V. Litvinov ^[27]. It seems that this was a reflection of the interest of the population, including the technical intelligentsia, in the history of energy in Altai. The works themselves contain historical information concerning the nuances of the activities of famous steam engineers with a description of their bold decisions in the field of energy, and describe the specifics of the operation of the first hydraulic installations in Altai.

In 1951, Barnaul published two short works by historian T.M. Makeev, in which the author, contrasting the pre-revolutionary and modern conditions of industrial development in Altai, negatively assessed cabinet management and noted the rapid development of industry and its competent leadership during the Soviet era ^[28]; ^[29]. T.M. Makeev did not consider electrification separately, confining ourselves to mentioning the Barnaul and Biysk TPPs. Nevertheless, the works of this author are interesting because they give a definite idea of the views of regional scientists on the history of industrialization of the region.

Perhaps for the first time, close attention to the study of the history of the Altai power system, its specifics and future prospects can be traced in the works of engineer A.F. Tagin, written in the early 1950s. At the same time, the author is interested in a diverse range of issues: from rural electrification to the general industrial and energy history of Altai. So, in his first work "Altai Energy and prospects for its development", A.F. Tagin, briefly highlighting the history of the mining industry in the region, noted the abundance of natural resources and the availability of rich hydraulic resources for the successful development of the electric power industry. In addition, the author cited the Barnaul thermal power plant as an exemplary example of the introduction of automation at a power facility, outlining the details of its operation, and highlighted the most preferred methods of electrification of various regions of the Altai Territory, where he devoted special attention to Kulunda, believing that this steppe region needs to be electrified using wind turbines ^[30].

Nevertheless, the work still lacks the history of the electric power industry itself. A.F. Tagin focuses more on plans and opportunities for the transformation of the industry in the future than on describing what has already happened. This gap is partially filled in his next work ^[31], which is in many ways a more detailed version of the first one. It is here that A.F. Tagin writes about the history of the region's electric power industry, beginning with a description of the construction of the first private power plant by merchant I.K. Platonov. The author notes the extremely poor development of pre-revolutionary energy in Altai, and negatively evaluates the activities of private individuals. Shifts in the electrification of the region, in his opinion, began only with the establishment of Soviet power.

In general, it can be noted that in the works of A.F. Tagin, the topic of electrification of Altai appears for the first time as a single, inseparable and integral object of attention, rather than additional material. It is worth emphasizing that these works are rather educational and popular scientific in nature, they consider the extensive period of development of the region's energy system and outline some key points rather schematically. There are not enough specifics and details everywhere, there are no references, and the conclusions drawn by A.F. Tagin are in many ways far from indisputable. So, for example, the author claims that the pre-revolutionary energy sector of the region was in a deplorable state, and only after the October Revolution did the situation with electrification improve dramatically ^{[29, p. 58]}, however, in reality, the Civil War caused significant damage to the regional energy sector ^{[31, p. 360]}. A few power plants were not properly serviced due to the fighting, and widespread nationalization disrupted the smooth operation of many private enterprises.

In the brochure by journalist V.K. Chilikin "Altai Territory in the fifth five-year plan" ^[33], the author summarizes the results of the fifth five-year plan, during which serious progress was noted in the field of electrification, characterized by a significant increase in labor productivity. In particular, in rural areas of Altai, lighting and generators are widely used on collective farms and state farms.

Of particular interest is the work of engineer B.P. Kuropatkin "New in the mechanization of agriculture in Altai," in which the author set out to highlight modern methods of work and, in particular, described in detail the design of electrical equipment that was actively used by collective farms in the Altai Territory. The work has a pronounced agrotechnical orientation, but at the same time it highlights some aspects of rural electrification of Altai ^[34].

One of the most famous works on the electrification of the country is the study by economist I.A. Gladkov "From the GOELRO plan to the sixth Five-Year Plan" ^[35], published in 1956. The author points to the high importance of electrification in the industrial development of the country, and also gives a broad understanding of energy management and the development of domestic equipment. However, the study contains controversial assessments and conclusions typical of the historiography of that time. In particular, I.A. Gladkov exaggerated the role of I.V. Stalin in creating the country's energy plans ^{[35, p. 98]}. Nevertheless, this work is useful for understanding the general patterns of electrification development, which can be projected onto the electrification process of Altai.

In 1963, a remarkable local history work by P.A. Borodkin was published, which mainly examines the causes of the great fire in Barnaul in 1917. However, the author includes in his work interesting information about the history of the city, some of which is devoted to the design and construction of the first municipal power plant, the operation of which will be briefly interrupted by a fire ^[36].

At the turn of the 1960s and 1970s, the topic of the construction of energy facilities acquired public importance: documentaries were shot, articles were published in popular science journals, etc. Several serious studies on the issues of the electric power industry were published. A significant contribution to historiography was made by the work of the famous scientist, former People's Commissar of Power Plants of the USSR D.G. Zhimerin "The History of electrification of the USSR" ^[37]. The author, being a direct participant in the preparation of the GOELRO plan, as well as the People's Commissar and Minister of the USSR, was well versed in the problems of electrification of the country, which he characterized as a necessary basis for the development of productive forces and scientific and technological progress. The work clearly demonstrates the important role of the electric power industry in the industrialization of the USSR, but the management methods practiced in the industry remained out of the author's field of view. D.G. Zimerin focused on the electrification of the USSR as a whole, and therefore Altai is not mentioned in the work. Nevertheless, the book is one of the first works in which the author sought to cover the entire history of the country's electrification.

In 1970, a study by the energy engineer V.Y. Steklov "V. I. Lenin and electrification" was published ^[38]. Describing in detail the progress of the implementation of the GOELRO plan, as well as the construction and operation of energy facilities, the author comes to the conclusion that thermal power plants should become the basis of the USSR's energy sector. In subsequent editions of the book, V.Yu. Steklov notes the high prospects for the development of hydropower in Siberia and describes in detail the work of Siberian hydroelectric power plants, attaching extensive statistical material ^{[38, pp. 308-315]}.

L.M. Gatovsky turned to the economic aspects of the development of electrification ^[39]. The author, being a well-known economist, provided his research with numerous calculations that allowed him to look at energy construction from a broader perspective. L.M. Gatovsky, like many of his colleagues, noted that electrification is the main link of technological progress and its cumulative result. The author was focused on analyzing the country's economy, and therefore the economy and energy of individual regions were not his task.

A significant contribution to the development of the history of electrification of Altai is made by the fundamental work of academician V.V. Alekseev "Electrification of Siberia" ^[40], where for the first time the Siberian region became the territory of research, and not the European part of Russia, as was done in most works before him. V.V. Alekseev analyzed in detail the features of the formation of Siberian energy from 1885 to the middle He theoretically justified the separation of the pre-revolutionary and Soviet periods of electrification, with a separate emphasis on the period of the Great Patriotic War. The author uses many sources that had not been previously introduced into scientific circulation. In addition to Siberian issues, V.V. Alekseev's work also provides brief information about the pre-revolutionary stage of the development of electrification in Altai, the first Barnaul thermal power plant, and the development of the energy base during World War II. In addition, the book includes a concise analytical outline of the GOELRO plan for the West Siberian region, including the Altai Province. It is V.V. Alekseev's monograph that provides the most comprehensive scientific material on Altai energy from all the literature reviewed, although it is far from always detailed, since the author has set a large-scale goal to cover and analyze the energy history of more than 20 regions, while identifying common patterns in the electrification of the entire vast Siberian region.

The works of the economist M.A. Vilensky contain interesting material on the problems of the history of the development of the technical and economic principles of the electric power industry ^[41]. Special attention in his works is paid to the economics of this industry. It follows from the calculations of M.A. Vilensky that the fuel and energy resources of the USSR will be enough for the almost unlimited development of thermal energy, which, according to the author, is becoming a key element determining the industrial specialization of the districts. In addition, the author came to the conclusion that a 1% increase in electric equipment provides an increase in labor productivity by 0.18% ^{[41, p. 152]}. Just like L.M. Gatovsky, M.A. Vilensky sought to show the economic aspects of energy development, so he did not reach the level of individual regions, but considered the entire territory of the Soviet Union.

The work of historian Yu.I. Romanov, "The implementation of Lenin's ideas of electrification in Kazakhstan" ^[42], in addition to presenting the detailed history of industrialization in the territory of this republic, contains information on the development of the history of the design of the largest Ubinsk hydroelectric power station, included in the GOELRO plan for the Altai province, which at that time included the territory of Northeastern Kazakhstan.

In V.A. Rylsky's economic study "Regional problems of energy development and electrification of the USSR" ^[43], the author points to the need for the mass use of progressive technologies as the most important way to reduce the labor intensity of production. V.A. Rylsky directly relates the degree of energy development to the level of socio-economic development of society. The author searches for ways of electrification in the Siberian region, considering mainly the second half of the XX century.

Thus, speaking about the Soviet historiography of electrification, it can be stated that during this period of time, major economic and theoretical works were created that consider energy from different points of view. At the same time, the historical aspects of electrification were rarely considered. The pre-revolutionary period of energy construction is particularly poorly covered in historiography. Since the 1960s and 70s, there have been some shifts in historiographical assessments, as a result of which the study of the topic becomes more balanced. Nevertheless, the issues of the socio-economic consequences of electrification and the management methods practiced remained out of the field of view of most authors. Soviet historiography has not sufficiently investigated the influence of foreign companies and individuals on the formation of the energy system of individual Siberian cities at the initial stage of the spread of electricity in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Modern historiography

Turning to modern research, we note that the works of historians of the post-Soviet period pay much more attention to the pre-revolutionary stage. It is possible to note the concretization of the object of research, whether it is private entrepreneurship at the turn of the XIX–XX centuries, the history of individual energy enterprises or companies in Barnaul, Biysk and other cities, or the construction of the first domestic hydroelectric power plants.

The famous economic geographer V.L. Baburin focused on the history of a particular hydroelectric power plant ^[44]. The author described with all scrupulousness and attention to detail the history of creation, the features of the production facilities and the principle of operation of the first Russian hydroelectric power station – Zyryanovskaya (1892). The study presents very valuable and unique information, supported by archival materials about the very first experiments of electrification of the region. In addition, V.L. Baburin formulated in his work the idea of the high importance of small rivers, which, in his opinion, combine the properties of the most important elements of the ecological framework of the territory and the main axes of the evolutionary development of civilization. Unfortunately, the author does not always refer to sources, in particular, it concerns his statement that the first hydroelectric power station was built on Valdai in the 50s of the XIX century, however, it is not clear where this controversial information came from ^{[44, p. 29]}.

In 1999, the collection "Centenary is a wonderful date!: JSC Altaenergo at the turn of the century" ^[45], in which, through the enumeration of the most significant facts, an idea of the regional electric power industry is given, however, the emphasis is on the history of Altaenergo, which is why the history of electrification in the first half of the 20th century remains poorly represented. Nevertheless, this is one of the rare works where the history of the region's energy industry is an integral and unified object of attention. This collection includes the earliest pre-revolutionary archival documents directly related to the installation of the first power plants. But in general, the collection is not a scientific publication in the strict sense of the word, being primarily an anniversary and popular publication.

It is impossible not to mention the monograph of the economist V.A. Borodin "Altai Industry, XX century" ^[46]. The author identifies and substantiates three periods of transformation in the history of the economy of the Altai Territory, which radically influenced the trends of industrial development: the first period (before 1940), the second period (1941-1991) and the third period (1992-2000) ^{[46, p.5]}. Since the topic of the history of industrial development is closely intertwined with the topic of the history of electrification, the author pays some attention to the latter. Thus, calculating the proportions of changes in the gross industrial output in Altai, V.A. Borodin determines the proximity in terms of indicators of the electric power industry and the chemical industry in the 50s of the XX century ^{[46, p. 21]}.

In 2002, a collective monograph was published in Novosibirsk, in which the tasks were set to study large-scale projects of economic transformation of Siberia, starting from the pre-revolutionary period ^[47]. The authors conducted a retrospective analysis of the most important economic projects for the development of Siberia and investigated the evolution of large-scale plans for the economic transformation of the region based on the idea of the continuity of state implementations and initiatives. The book also focuses on the transport system, energy logistics, the search for models of sustainable agricultural development, and public administration methodology and its effectiveness.

A little later, A.I. Timoshenko solved similar problems in another work ^[48]. Both studies are based on a large number of new sources that have not been previously introduced into scientific circulation. The stages of preparation of major economic projects are also analyzed in great detail, and a fresh look at the level of planning in the vast Siberian region during the period under review is given. However, the focus of researchers' attention when considering the development of energy in both works is shifted to the study of the Kuznetsk region, which was a leader in this industry, and the presentation of the history of Altai energy is episodic.

Due to various circumstances, the leaders in the development of electrification in Altai at the turn of the XX–XXI centuries were primarily private individuals, merchants and simply enterprising wealthy citizens. Against this background, the collective monograph "The Business Elite of Old Siberia" plays a certain role in clarifying the stated topic ^[49]. Through the history of entrepreneurship and the biographies of prominent Siberian personalities, it is possible to find out the time and details of the installation of pre-revolutionary small power plants in estates, mills and factories.

The planned line is continued by the research of Barnaul historian V.A. Skubnevsky "Merchant class and culture of Barnaul in the second half of the XIX – early XX century" ^[7], where a separate chapter is devoted to private entrepreneurship in the field of energy. The author used new archival materials, with the help of which it was possible to establish one of the earliest dates of the appearance of an electric motor in Altai, to consider the origins of electrification of the region and its characteristic features at first. Through the prism of private entrepreneurship, the peculiarities of the emergence of Barnaul's urban energy system are considered, interesting and unique facts about electric lighting of the city's streets, the construction of cinemas and the electrification of mills are presented. Of course, this work is a good basis for the development of the topic of electrification at the initial stage and helps to build a genetic line in the issues of the electric power industry of the region.

Historian D.A. Perfiliev ^[50] addressed the accelerated development of Altai energy during the Great Patriotic War in his article, who carefully analyzed the state of the regional industry in the early days of the war, assessed the possibilities of accommodating evacuated enterprises, and listed those government decisions that directly affected the growth of electricity generation in the Altai Territory, recording the facts of location and installation thermal power plants in the region to provide energy to evacuated enterprises. The author presents data on electricity production in Altai, compares them with pre-war and post-war figures: the author estimated a 200% increase by 1945 [50. P. 177]. During the Great Patriotic War, the Altai Territory, according to D.A. Perfiliev, became an industrially developed region, Altai industrial enterprises produced 2% of the gross product of the USSR. In our opinion, this work is one of the most informative for studying the history of Altai energy.

The topic of pre-revolutionary electrification of Russia was thoroughly discussed by N.S. Simonov in his work "The Development of the Electric Power Industry of the Russian Empire: the Prehistory of GOELRO" ^[3], which is a comprehensive study of the first steps in the field of energy that were taken in tsarist Russia. The author divides power plants into groups that differ in their energy source, and examines the history of each group's development separately, showing alternating public and private involvement in the development of Russia's energy industry. N.S. Simonov, in the course of his research, comes to the remarkable conclusion that it was in the Russian Empire that the basic principles of energy development were already formulated. and projects of large power plants were developed, which influenced the content of the GOELRO plan, created later. Unfortunately, there was no place for Altai in such a detailed work, except for a brief mention.

One of the latest studies in the field of energy history of the region is an article from 2019. "Barnaul city power plant is a monument of industrial architecture of the early 20th century" by historians M.A. Tselishcheva and M.A. Dyshlyuk ^[5]. The authors focus on the history of the first communal CES, its design, capacity, and features of functioning in different time periods. Previously, historiography in relation to Barnaul was usually limited to mentioning the construction and history of CHP-1 in 1936, the smaller CES was usually not mentioned at all. However, its history covers in detail not only the living conditions of use, but also some common characteristic features of the Barnaul power system in the 1920s and 30s, albeit not in full.

To summarize, it can be noted that in modern historiography, subjects devoted to the pre-revolutionary history of energy occupy a much greater place than before. Modern Russian researchers also often focus on the history of individual short periods or notable energy facilities that previously remained in the shadows. The approach through the prism of which the history of regional energy is studied is very interesting: biographies of outstanding personalities and the history of entrepreneurship in Altai. At the same time, modern historiography sorely lacks generalizing works that would examine the history of the region's energy industry in the context of the country's energy history from a new perspective.

Conclusion

In general, it can be noted that Soviet historiography was obviously dominated by works aimed at describing and highlighting common patterns, whereas in recent decades more attention has been paid to various moments of history, largely related to the pre-revolutionary period. We should also note some ideological bias inherent in most of the works created in the Soviet Union, especially in the 1930s and 1950s. In general, according to the calculations of historian N.G. Shamray, in the period from 1921 to 1990, more than two hundred major works were published on the problems of domestic electrification to one degree or another ^{[51, p. 9]} and yet there is not a single generalizing work on the history of Altai energy, which in most scientific works is mentioned in sporadically at best.

Only certain chronological periods (the end of the XIX – beginning of the XX centuries and the period of the Great Patriotic War), as well as plots related to the history of specific energy enterprises in Altai (Zyryanovskaya HPP, Barnaul CES), seem relatively studied. The history of the Altai energy system itself has been a more or less serious object of attention only twice. The most fundamental work in this regard is V.V. Alekseev's study "Electrification of Siberia", however, the wide territorial scope of the topic did not allow to present in detail the history of Altai power engineering. As a result, there are many gaps in the history of the regional energy system that need to be filled in the future.