Monster Head Drop for Scotland's Loch Ness Hydro Project

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Researched by Industrialinfo.com (Industrial Information Resources, Incorporated; Houston, Texas). Plans have been submitted to the Scottish Executive for the construction of a $137 million hydroelectric scheme at Glendoe in the northeastern corner of Loch Ness in Inverness-shire. The scheme will collect water from an area of 75 square kilometers. The new reservoir will be 600 meters above Loch Ness. The water will either be channeled directly on the surface or be fed through 17 kilometers of underground aqueducts.

The monster drop from the reservoir head to the turbines at the lochside will the longest for any hydro station in the United Kingdom. The reservoir dam will be about one kilometer and will be shaped to suit the topography and geology of the area and will have a maximum height of 35 meters. The head height will make Glendoe the most efficient hydro scheme in the country.

The power station, which will probably be built underground, will be located close to the south east corner of Loch Ness. The installed power capacity is awaiting final specification but the power station is set to produce between 50-100 MW putting it in the top six of Scottish and Southern Energy's (LSE:SSE) (Perth, Scotland) 54 hydro electric power stations. Glendoe will produce around 150 million units of green electricity in a year of average rainfall that is equivalent to the power needs of 40,000 Scottish homes.

Construction on the scheme will start as soon as approval procedures have been cleared and will take about three years to completion, plus a further year to commission the power station that should see power generated in 2008. The construction phase will see 400 jobs created.

As part of the pre-planning process, the scheme has been subjected to a detailed environmental assessment and the scope was developed in consultation with Scottish Natural Heritage and with the Scottish Environment Protection Agency. This will be Scotland's first large scale hydroelectric scheme for 40 years.

SSE, with associated companies, serves nearly five million customers across the UK. It is a FTSE 100 company and manages the largest distribution network in the UK. It has major interests in electrical power generation, supply, and energy trading markets and the domestic gas market. The company also has interests in electric goods retailing and electricity and utility contracting.