Rockfall Shuts Down New Scottish Hydroelectric Plant

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--Power generation has stopped at the newly opened Glendoe Hydro Power Station, located east of Fort Augustus, Scotland, following a large rockfall. Scottish and Southern Energy plc (OTC:SSEZY) (SSE) (Perth, Scotland) has announced that electricity generation has been suspended at the 100-megawatt (MW) Glendoe facility due to rocks partially blocking the main tunnel connecting the reservoir to the power station. The turbine has not been damaged, but SSE said that it is unknown when the station will be operational again.

This is the second hydroelectric plant to be knocked out of service this week. On Monday, a tragic explosion at Russia's largest hydroelectric power plant killed up to 70 employees. The blast at the Sayano-Shushinskaya power station on the Yenisei River in southern Siberia destroyed three of the facility's 10 turbines and damaged three others at the 6,400-MW plant. Officials said it could take years to get the plant back to full capacity. For additional information, see August 19, 2009, news article - Fatal Explosion Shuts Russia's Largest Hydro Plant.

The rockfall at Glendoe is a blow to SSE's growing hydro plans, as the plant was officially opened only last month, as detailed in July 10, 2009, article - Glendoe Hydro Power Station Opened by the Queen.

The affected tunnel has been drained and SSE plans to conduct a full investigation of the entire length of the tunnel before starting repairs. Months could pass before Glendoe is back in action. SSE will provide an update of the investigation's progress and the schedule for repairs when the company publishes its half-year results in November.

"It is hugely disappointing that this problem should have arisen at Glendoe, when it appeared that the development of the scheme had been completely successful," said Ian Marchant, Chief Executive of SSE. "Extreme care will be taken with the investigation and repairs to make sure the scheme emerges from this difficulty in a strong position to operate successfully over the long term."

The Glendoe Hydro Power Station is the first large-scale Scottish hydroelectric project in 50 years. The plant took two years to build and cost approximately £160 million ($265 million). Glendoe is an unmanned power station that is operated remotely.

The powerhouse is located underground and consists of an Andritz Hydro (formerly VA Tech Hydro) single vertical-shaft pelton wheel turbine/generator. The operational life of the station is estimated to be 75 years, with a major refurbishment to be performed in about 40 years.

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