Mountains & hills · Scottish Highlands
Cruachan Power Station
Cruachan Power Station in Scotland Islands, United Kingdom.
David Brown — CC BY-SA 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons licence
Plan your visit
- Typical visit
- 3 h–8 h
- Best time of year
- Late spring – early autumn (May–Oct)
About
Cruachan Power Station is a place of interest in Scotland Islands, United Kingdom — drawn from open-data sources for visitor reference. See the linked Wikipedia article for the full description.
Photo gallery
From the Wikipedia article
The Cruachan Power Station (also known as the Cruachan Dam) is a pumped-storage hydroelectric power station in Argyll and Bute, Scotland, UK. The scheme can provide 440 MW of power and produced 705 GWh in 2009. The turbine hall is located inside Ben Cruachan, and the scheme moves water between Cruachan Reservoir and Loch Awe, a height difference of 396 m (1,299 ft). It is one of only four pumped storage power stations in the United Kingdom, and is capable of providing a black start capability to the National Grid. Construction began in 1959 to coincide with the Hunterston A nuclear power station in Ayrshire. Cruachan uses cheap electricity generated at night to pump water to the higher reservoir, which can then be released during the day to provide power as necessary. The power station is open to visitors, and around 50,000 tourists visit it each year.
Excerpt from Wikipedia under CC BY-SA 4.0. See the source article linked in Sources below.
Background
History
Construction commenced in 1959, and the power station was opened by Queen Elizabeth II on 15 October 1965. The concept was designed by Sir Edward MacColl, who died before it opened. At the peak of the construction, there were around 4,000people working on the project. The cost of the scheme was . Cruachan is pre-dated by the smaller 232 MW Lünerseewerk (de) (Austria, 1958) and the 360 MW Ffestiniog Power Station (Wales, 1963). It is one of four pumped storage schemes in the United Kingdom. Its construction was linked to that of Hunterston A nuclear power station, to store surplus night-time nuclear-generated electrical energy. The power station was originally operated by the North of…
Sourced from Wikipedia under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- Coordinates
- 56.4064, -5.1131
- Address
- Argyll and Bute
- Established
- 1965
- Official site
- www.visitcruachan.co.uk
Sources
- wikidata: Q15212096 (CC0)
- wikipedia: Cruachan Power Station (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Other places nearby
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Nearby
📷 3Reservoirs & lochs · Scottish Highlands
Cruachan Reservoir
Cruachan Reservoir — lake in Argyll and Bute, Scotland, UK.
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Falls of Cruachan
Falls of Cruachan in Scotland Islands, United Kingdom.
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Falls of Cruachan derailment
Falls of Cruachan derailment in Scotland Islands, United Kingdom.
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Falls of Cruachan Railway Viaduct
Falls of Cruachan Railway Viaduct is a historic bridge in the United Kingdom.
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Falls of Cruachan railway station in Scotland Islands, United Kingdom.
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Frequently asked questions
- Where is Cruachan Power Station?
- Cruachan Power Station is in the Scottish Highlands, United Kingdom.
- When was Cruachan Power Station built?
- Built or established in 1965.
- Who owns Cruachan Power Station?
- Cruachan Power Station is owned by Drax Power.