Affric Beauly Power Plants
Affric Beauly Power Plants | |||
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location | |||
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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
- ↑ Entry on Mullardoch Dam in Canmore, the database of Historic Environment Scotland (English)
- ↑ Entry on Loch Mullardoch Tunnel in Canmore, the database of Historic Environment Scotland (English)
- ^ 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).
- ↑ a b c SSE (ed.): Power from the Glens . Affric / Beauly, S. 13 ( sse.com [PDF]).
- ↑ Federal Office for Water Management (Ed.): Statistics of hydropower plants in Switzerland . 1st January 1973.