| RSS Web Feed for Renewable Energy UK |  | REUK Shop | Directory | Bookmark Site | About Us  

UK Hydro Power Stations



UK Hydro Power Stations

Find out more about the major hydro power stations in the United Kingdom

hydro
Printer Friendly Version Print Article     

There are very many hydropower generators in the UK ranging from a couple of hundred Watts up to hundreds of Kilowatts. Below are listed details of some of the largest (80MW+) hydro power stations in the United Kingdom. All are located in Scotland with the exception of the largest of all, Dinorwig, which is in North Wales and is the largest in the UK.
To find out more about Hydro Electric Power click here for a short introduction.

Biggest Hydro Power Stations in the UK

Dinorwig Power Station (1,728MW)
The Dinorwig Power Station in Wales was commission in 1984 and has a huge 1.7GW power rating. 10 miles of underground tunnels buried beneath Elidir mountain carry water down from Marchlyn Mawr to the six 288MW turbine generators situated in Europe's largest man-made cavern. During construction 12 million tonnes of material was excavated and 1 million tonnes of concrete and 4,500 tonnes of steel used. A schematic diagram is displayed below:

Schematic of the Dinorwig hydro power installation

Ben Cruachan Power Station (400MW)
This unique Scottish hydro power station is actually built inside a mountain. In 1965 a dam across Loch Cruachan was opened by the Queen. The loch's water is then carried by two massive pipes through the mountain to turbine generators hidden in a man made cavern in the centre of the mountain. At night time when less power is needed across the UK, the turbines are reversed and water is pumped back up to the reservoir storing energy to be used in the day time.

Foyers Power Station (305MW)
The Foyers hydro-electric power scheme is located on the Southeast corner of Loch Ness in Scotland. During off-peak times surplus electricity from the National Grid is used to pump water from Loch Ness up to Loch Mhor (a man-made reservoir linking two natural lochs). This water can then be released to turn turbines and generate electricity at times of peak usage. 100 cubic metres of water pass through each of two huge turbine generators during generation giving a total capacity of over 300MW.

Lochaber Hydroelectric Power (84MW)
The power generated by the Lochaber hydroelectric turbine is used by the aluminium smelter at Fort William. Constructed before WWII, a 15 mile 4.5m wide conduit (for 50 years the world's longest water supply tunnel) from Loch Laggan to Loch Treig and on to Ben Nevis takes water down to the aluminium smelter power house where it generates over 80MW of electricity.

Mossford Power Station(247MW)
In the 1950's the Vaich Dam was constructed creating Loch Vaich. From here and Loch Droma water is taken to another man-made loch, Lock Glascarnoch which is situated behind the Glascarnoch Dam. From there a 5 mile long tunnel takes water to the Mossford power station generating almost 250MW of electricity.

Sloy Power Station (160MW)
The Loch Sloy hydro scheme was build just after WWII taking water down from Loch Sloy to Loch Lomond and generating electricity for the city of Glasgow. It is another pumped storage system used to generate electricity at peak periods from the kinetic energy held by water pumped up to Loch Sloy during the night.
Article Last Modified: 08:43, 31st Jan 2007

Comment on this Article

If you have any comments on this article, please email them to neil@reuk.co.uk.


Recommended Related Articles

People who read this article also enjoyed the following articles:

Introduction to Hydro Electric Power
A brief introduction to Hydroelectic power generation
Article Last Modified: 16:37, 18th Jul 2007
hydro

British Hydro Association
Find out more about the British Hydro Association
Article Last Modified: 10:24, 6th Jan 2007
hydro

Run of River Hydro Power
Hydro electricity generation without a dam
Article Last Modified: 14:35, 3rd Jan 2007
hydro

Pico Hydro Power
Find out more about Pico Hydro power (sub-5kW generators)
Article Last Modified: 14:35, 3rd Jan 2007
hydro

Calculation of Hydro Power
Work out how much hydro power can be taken from flowing water with our new online automatic hydro-power calculator
Article Last Modified: 12:47, 10th Mar 2008
hydro | education

Rainbow Power 300W Hydro Generator
300 Watt 12/24 Volt hydro power generators from Rainbow Power
Article Last Modified: 15:09, 25th Jan 2007
hydro | shopping

Introduction to Water Wheels
Find out more about using the power of a waterwheel
Article Last Modified: 10:16, 12th Nov 2008
hydro

UK Renewable Energy Degree Courses
Study renewable energy at university in the UK
Article Last Modified: 11:18, 29th Oct 2009
education | general

Permanent Magnet Generator
Build a wind or water power system with around a PM Generator
Article Last Modified: 11:44, 21st Jul 2008
wind | hydro

Storing Wind Power with Compressed Air
Find out how wind power can be stored and sold at times of peak demand
Article Last Modified: 07:51, 9th Oct 2009
wind | storage | news

© 2006-2009 REUK - All Rights Reserved
Page Last Updated on 20th November 2009 at 04:38:13pm

Latest
Articles


Energy Saving and Recycling in the Office
Guide to saving energy and recycling in the office
energy efficiency
16:38, 20th Nov 2009

Lamina Sol MR16 LED Spotlight Review
Review of Lamina Sol MR16 energy efficient LED spotlights
lighting
14:38, 20th Nov 2009

Freeloader Pico
Buy the new economical Freeloader Pico solar charger
solar
14:37, 19th Nov 2009

Direct Solar Water Heating System
Find out how to put together a simple and cost effective direct solar water heating system
solar
09:25, 16th Nov 2009

Ways to Save Electricity
Find out how you can save electricity in your home - help the environment and save money.
energy efficiency
11:39, 14th Nov 2009

Saving Energy to Reduce Carbon Emissions
Increasing energy efficiency is the cheapest way to reduce carbon emissions
energy efficiency
14:51, 11th Nov 2009

Drying Clothes Indoors
Tips on drying clothes indoors without a tumble drier
energy efficiency
15:57, 29th Oct 2009

Google Powermeter
Google Powermeter - an online tool to track your home or office electricity consumption in real time online
energy efficiency
13:23, 29th Oct 2009



REUK Shop

Popular Items


REUK SUPER TIMER
User programmable 12V powered 10A rated repeating relay timer. 1 second to 99 hours ON and OFF times
£19.99 each.
Complete Circuits



SOLAR PUMP CONTROLLER WITH RELAY
Solar water heating system microprocessor controlled circuit with fitted 10A relay
£25.99 each.
Complete Circuits



12 VOLT 5 WATT SOLAR PANEL
Waterproof 12 Volt 5 Watt Solar Panel with aluminium frame - 290mm x 205mm x 17mm with fitted 5m leads
£33.99 each.
Solar Power



300 WATT POWER INVERTER
Convert 12V DC battery power into 230 AC to power portable televisions, computers, video recorders etc. 300 Watt power rating - peak power 600 Watts
£29.99 each.
Renewable Energy System Parts



CONVERTED PROGRAMMABLE DIGITAL TIMER RELAY
Mains powered programmable timer converted to low voltage with relay board
£21.99 each.
Renewable Energy System Parts



12 VOLT REGULATOR
Supply a fixed 12.0 Volt DC to your devices (up to 1 Amp output)
£4.99 each.
Complete Circuits



MR16 CERAMIC BULB HOLDER
Bulb holder for 12 Volt LED spotlight bulbs
£1.39 each.
Energy Efficient Lighting