Sloy Power Station
| Sloy Power Station | ||
|---|---|---|
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| location | ||
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| Coordinates | 56 ° 15 '4 " N , 4 ° 42' 42" W | |
| country | United Kingdom | |
| place | Tarbet (Argyll and Bute) | |
| Waters | Loch Lomond , Loch Sloy | |
| power plant | ||
| Start of operation | 1950 | |
| technology | ||
| Bottleneck performance | 152.5 megawatts | |
| Average height of fall |
277 m | |
| Turbines | 4th | |
| Others | ||
The Sloy Power Station ( German : Kraftwerk Sloy ) is a hydroelectric power station in the Scottish Council Area Argyll and Bute . It is located in a sparsely populated, mountainous region in the Arrochar Alps north of the Cowal Peninsula on the northwest bank of Loch Lomond . In 1996 the power plant was included in the Scottish monument lists in the highest category A. In addition, together with the dam at Loch Sloy , it forms a category A monument ensemble . The nearest larger town is Tarbet, about six kilometers away .
Reservoir
The first plan to use hydropower in Scotland included the damming of Loch Sloy. Construction began under the direction of the North of Scotland Hydro-Electric Board and was completed in 1949. At the time of construction, the dam that was built during this period was 366 m long and was the longest of its kind in Scotland. When erecting the 46 m high structure, some German prisoners of war from World War II were used. The damming caused the length of the lake to be doubled, whereby it gained around 50 m in depth. The rain catchment area quadrupled through this measure.
power plant
The Sloy Power Station is about three kilometers southeast of the dam on the banks of Loch Lomond. From the dam, several two-meter-diameter pressure lines were driven through the Ben Vorlich mountain , which lies between the two lakes. The architectural design was submitted in 1947 and construction was completed in 1950. The grand opening of the facility took place in the presence of the British Queen Mother . Refurbishment works worth £ 113 million were carried out in the 1990s. Three of the four generators were replaced and their output increased from 32.5 MW to 40 MW each. The power plant can generate an output of 152.5 MW, making it the most powerful hydropower plant in the United Kingdom. At full capacity, the system consumes around 4.5 million liters of water per minute. The energy generated is fed into the power grid via 132 kV lines. The Scottish Labor Minister Sarah Boyack took over the reopening . Although already considered in the first plans in the 1940s, planning for an expansion as a pumped storage power plant was only started in 2010. It is planned to install a pump capacity of 60 MW to transfer water from Loch Lomond to Loch Sloy.
Pressure pipes on the slopes of Ben Vorlich
View of the power house
Individual evidence
- ↑ Listed Building - Entry . In: Historic Scotland .
- ↑ a b Entry in the Gazetteer for Scotland
- ↑ BBC: Loch Sloy
Web links
- Entry on Sloy Power Station in Canmore, Historic Environment Scotland database