Affric Beauly Power Plants

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Affric Beauly Power Plants
location
Scotland , United Kingdom
Coordinates	57 ° 21 ′ 39 ″  N , 5 ° 0 ′ 3 ″  W.
country	Highland , Scotland
place	Beauly
Waters	Tributaries of the Beauly River
Data
Type	Power plant network of storage and run-of-river power plants
Primary energy	water
power	168.4 MW
owner	SSE
Project start	1946
Start of operations	1952
Energy fed in per year	531 GWh
Website	sse.com

The Affric-Beauly power plants , English Affric-Beauly hydro-electric power scheme , are a system of hydroelectric power plants in the western Highlands of Scotland , about 45 km southwest of Inverness . The power plants are operated by Scottish and Southern Energy (SSE). The largest reservoir in the system is Loch Mullardoch .

history

The eastern slopes of the western highlands are drained by tributaries of the River Beauly . The possible use of hydropower in this area was discussed as early as 1918, but it took until 1946 for the plans for the Mullardoch – Fasnakyle – Affric project , the southern part of the overall project, to be published. First of all, the use of the water in Glen Affric and Glen Cannich was approached, because this also prevented flooding in the Strathglass . A dam was built in each of the two valleys , creating the two reservoirs Loch Mullardoch and Loch Beinn a 'Mheadhoin . The associated headquarters in Fasnakyle west of Cannich started operations in 1952.

North of the Mullardoch – Fasnakyle – Affric project, the Strathfarrar and Kilmorack power plants, English Strathfarrar and Kilmorack hydro-electric power scheme, were built . The head storage of this power plant group is Loch Monar , which was completed in 1962 . Its water is processed in the Deanie cavern center before it flows into the Loch Beannacharan reservoir . From there, the water is fed to the Culligran underground power station - one of the few power stations in which a large-capacity diagonal turbine is installed. The water is transferred to the River Farrar, which after the inflow from the River Glass becomes the River Beauly. This river is used by the two power plants Aigas and Kilmorack.

technology

Mullardoch – Fasnakyle – Affric project

The water is fed from Loch Mullardoch through a 4.8 km long transfer tunnel to Loch Beinn a 'Mheadhoin, whereby it is used by a small hydropower with a Francis turbine when entering the tunnel . From Loch Beinn a 'Mheadhoin, whose water level is kept as constant as possible, the water flows through a 3.8 km long inlet tunnel and a 104 m long pressure shaft into the Fasnakyle headquarters. There are three Francis turbines with an output of 23 MW each. The underwater flows into the River Glass and from there into the River Beauly, which is also used by the northern part of the entire facility , the Strathfarrar and Kilmorack power plants.

Strathfarrar and Kilmorack power plants

Loch Monar is one of the few reservoirs in Great Britain with an arch dam . The water from the lake is the over a nine-kilometer headrace tunnel underground power station fed Deanie, located at the western end of Loch Beannacharan. Another inlet tunnel directs the water from Loch Beannacharan to the Culligran cave power station, which is located below the waterfalls of the Farrar River and releases the water into this river.

The River Farrar and the River Glass unite to form the River Beauly, which flows through a gorge at Aigas and Kilmorack, both gorges being dammed and the hydropower being used by a river power station integrated into the dam.

List of the headquarters

Headquarters	location	valley	Installation	el. power in MW	Pelton turbines	Maximum raw head in m	Annual production in million kWh
Mullardoch	57 ° 20 ′ 3.7 "  N , 4 ° 57 ′ 18.5"  W.	Glen Cannich	1955	2.4	1 Francis turbine	27	8th
Fasnakyle	57 ° 19 '33.6 "  N , 4 ° 47' 39.1"  W.	Glen Affric	1951	76.5	3 Francis turbine	159	254
Deanie	57 ° 24 '26.8 "  N , 4 ° 50' 39.5"  W.	Glen Strathfarrar	1963	38	2 Francis turbine	113	92
Culligran	57 ° 25 '31.6 "  N , 4 ° 42' 9.4"  W.	Glen Strathfarrar	1962	19th	1 Deriaz turbine	60	59
Aigas	57 ° 27 '26.8 "  N , 4 ° 32' 42"  W.	River Beauly	1962	20th	2 Kaplan turbines	18th	60
Kilmorack	57 ° 27 '47.6 "  N , 4 ° 30' 43.6"  W.	River Beauly	1962	20th	2 Kaplan turbines	17th	58

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Entry on Mullardoch Dam  in Canmore, the database of Historic Environment Scotland (English)
2. ↑ Entry on Loch Mullardoch Tunnel  in Canmore, the database of Historic Environment Scotland (English)
3. ^ Charles Simeons: Hydro-Power: The Use of Water as an Alternative Source of Energy . Elsevier, 2014, ISBN 978-1-4831-4561-7 , pp. 303 ff . ( limited preview in Google Book search).
4. ↑ ^{a b c} SSE (ed.): Power from the Glens . Affric / Beauly, S. 13 ( sse.com [PDF]).
5. ↑ Federal Office for Water Management (Ed.): Statistics of hydropower plants in Switzerland . 1st January 1973.