70 Years Of Clean, Renewable Power From Invergarry Power Station
The title of this post, is the same as this news item from SSE.
These four paragraphs introduce the article.
SSE is celebrating 70 years of operation at Invergarry Power Station, a key part of the Great Glen Hydro Scheme and one of the many remarkable projects delivered during the pioneering years of hydro-electric development in the Scottish Highlands.
Officially opened on 5 October 1956, Invergarry was developed during a transformative period when the Highlands became one of the largest construction sites in Europe. Alongside dozens of other hydro projects built by the North of Scotland Hydro-Electric Board, the station helped harness Scotland’s natural resources to deliver clean, reliable electricity while bringing jobs, investment and new opportunities to communities across the region.
Part of the wider Great Glen Hydro Scheme, Invergarry was built as part of a network of hydro-electric stations connected by the Highland Grid transmission system, enabling renewable electricity generated in some of Scotland’s most remote landscapes to be transported to homes, businesses and communities across the north of Scotland.
The development of Scotland’s hydro-electric network remains one of the country’s most significant engineering achievements. Across the wider hydro programme, 54 power stations and 78 dams were constructed, creating an enduring legacy that continues to support Scotland’s energy system today.
Note.
- The article is well worth a read.
- The Great Glen has its own web site.
- I was around in the mid-1950s, when Invergarry and other schemes were built. They got a lot of positive publicity in places like the Meccano Magazine.
- A lot of the publicity on energy projects today is negative.
Today, we should celebrate the seventieth birthday of Invergarry hydro-electric station.
Save Loch Ness Campaigners Fear Highland Council Hydro Decision Will Pave Way For Further Approvals
The title of this post, is the same as this article from the Press & Journal.
This is the sub-heading.
Campaigners have hit out after councillors decided to raise no objection to plans, but only by the narrowest of margins
These three paragraphs add some more detail.
A community group has been left “disappointed” after Highland councillors decided to raise no objection to a proposed new hydro scheme at Loch Ness.
The Save Loch Ness group has been campaigning against what it brands the “industrialisation” of the loch, including the proposal for the Glen Earrach Pumped Storage Hydro (PSH) scheme.
Yesterday, as a consultee on the project which will ultimately be decided by Scottish ministers, Highland Council’s south planning committee decided to raise no objection to the plans – but only on the casting vote of chairman Paul Oldham.
I can sympathise with the community group, but I believe that the Glen Earrach scheme can be incorporated sympathetically into Loch Ness.
- The Glen Earrach scheme will be a 2 GW/34 GWh pumped storage hydro scheme, which could be the largest in the UK. So it is important.
- The Glen Earrach scheme will contribute to a Community Wealth Fund, which is expected to deliver over £20 million a year over the operational lifetime of the project.
- The economics are favourable because the large height difference between the upper reservoir, at nearly 500 m above sea level, and Loch Ness
- It could create up to a thousand construction jobs.
- There appear to be no current plans for a visitor centre.
- Once operational, the majority of the project’s infrastructure will be located underground.
- The project is expected to be complete in 2031.
- It is likely to last 125 years. I don’t think this is surprising, given that Invergarry hydro power station has just celebrated seventy years of operation, which I wrote about in 70 Years Of Clean, Renewable Power From Invergarry Power Station.
- There were objections to the Coire Glas pumped storage hydro scheme, at the other end of the Great Glen.
- The cost of the scheme appears to be around £3 billion.
Whether this scheme is approved will be a close run thing.
But it will be needed to help back-up all of Scotland’s offshore wind power, which currently stands at 5.7 GW and could reach 40 GW by 2040, according to Gooogle AI and Wikipedia.
The Size Of The UK’s Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ)
I want to refer to this more and more, so I’ve put it in a separate post.
This map from the European Atlas of the Seas, shows the various exclusive economic zones (EEZ) in the North Sea.
Note.
- The pinkish zone to the East of the UK, is the UK’s EEZ.
- The light blue zone at the top is Norway’s EEZ.
- The greenish zone in the North-East corner of the map is Denmark’s EEZ.
- The light blue zone below Denmark’s EEZ is Germany’s EEZ.
- Then we have the EEZs for The Netherlands, Belgium and France.
The Dogger Bank is situated where the UK, Dutch, German and Norwegian EEZs meet.
Didn’t we do well!
But Belgium and Germany miss out badly, when it comes for virgin sea to fill with wind farms.
DNV Certifies Floating Wind Turbine Foundation Design For Buchan Project
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on offshoreWIND.biz.
This is the sub-heading.
Buchan Offshore Wind has received Basic Design Certification from DNV for the BW Ideol-designed concrete Damping Pool floating foundation selected for its nearly 1 GW floating wind project off Scotland.
This initial paragraph adds some more detail.
The certification covers the Buchan-specific Damping Pool design, which has been developed for the project’s North Sea site. BW Ideol’s standard 15 MW-plus Damping Pool platform received DNV Basic Design Certification in May 2025. The technology is also being used on the Floatgen demonstration project in France, which has been operating since 2018.
Note.
The Buchan Offshore Wind Farm has a web site.
It appears to have a capacity of at least 960 MW, with 64 x 15 MW turbines.
The web site has a video of the Damping Pool platform.
The platforms will be built at the Port of Ardersier in Scotland.
Council Raise No Objection To Major Hydro Scheme Near Loch Ness
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on the BBC.
This is the sub-heading.
Highland Council is to raise no objection to a major hydro-electric project near Loch Ness – on the condition there are strict rules on rock blasting and the colour of a dam wall.
These three paragraphs add some more detail.
Under the proposals, Glen Earrach Pumped Storage Hydro scheme would use Loch nam Breac Dearga, in hills above Drumnadrochit, as an upper reservoir and Loch Ness as a lower one.
In a vote, Highland Council’s south planning applications committee was split on whether to support or oppose the plans.
Committee chairman Paul Oldham used his casting vote to back an amendment to raise no objection, provided blasting took place in daytime and the dam wall was blended in with surrounding hills.
It sounds like a good Scottish compromise was reached over a few drams.
As this will be a 1.8 GW/34 GWh pumped storage hydro project, it could play a large part in Scotland’s future.
Centrica Energy, Delta Capacity and Covenergo Sign A Battery Storage Deal In Finland
The title of this post, is the same as that of this news item from Centrica.
This is the sub-heading.
Centrica Energy, Delta Capacity and Covenergo have signed a partial tolling agreement for AKKU One, a 125 MW / 300 MWh standalone battery energy storage system (BESS) being developed in Lapinlahti, Finland.
These two paragraphs add some detail.
Under the partial tolling agreement, Centrica Energy will optimise and trade the asset across Nordic power markets, leveraging its 24/7 trading and multi-market optimisation capabilities to unlock value across wholesale, balancing and ancillary service markets. Through the partial tolling structure, the project benefits from secured revenues while maintaining merchant upside.
Commissioning is planned for Q4 2027, and once operational, AKKU One will provide critical flexibility to Finland’s power system, supporting frequency regulation, balancing requirements and the continued integration of renewable generation.
In Centrica And Return Partner To Scale Battery Flexibility In Germany, I asked if Centrica were good at optimising grid batteries.
As they seem to be doing business in this area, I have to assume that they are oone of the best, at optimising batteries.
New Study Identifies Foundation Standardisation, Lower Cost of Capital As Key To Floating Wind Competitiveness
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on offshoreWIND.biz.
This is the sub-heading.
Standardising floating offshore wind foundations and reducing the cost of capital to bring it in line with fixed-bottom could deliver some of the largest cost reductions for the technology, according to a new report from the UK’s Offshore Renewable Energy (ORE) Catapult.
These first three paragraphs add more detail.
The report sets out a methodology for identifying and tracking the factors that drive floating wind costs as the technology moves towards commercial scale and identifies 21 potential cost-reduction factors, concluding that cost reductions are likely to result from a sequence of measures as the industry matures rather than a single breakthrough.
Standardising floating substructure designs could reduce costs by up to 17 per cent, according to the analysis. ORE Catapult said more than 100 floating substructure designs are currently in the market, with greater standardisation expected to increase supply-chain confidence and reduce technical uncertainty.
The cost of capital was identified as the single largest cost-reduction lever. Bringing financing costs closer to those of fixed-bottom offshore wind could deliver almost 20 per cent in savings, the report found. Other factors include increased competition and advances in manufacturing.
Note.
- The report analysed floating wind projects in the Celtic Sea, North Sea and waters east of Shetland.
- Different technologies are covered.
- The floating wind industry must innovate to bring their costs down.
The report can be downloaded from this link.
I am sure, if they were working today, Henry Ford and other pioneers of the motor industry would have ideas for improving productivity in the floating wind industry.
Glasgow Queen Street Station To London King’s Cross Station For £52.40
My plan this morning, was to come home via Hartlepool, so that I could take pictures of the nuclear power station there.
I intended to take a train from Glasgow Queen Street station to Newcastle and then take local train to Hartlepool and back to Newcastle, from where I’d buy a ticket and take a train to London King’s Cross.
Things went well until I left Edinburgh on my train for Newcastle.
- I’d bought a ticket from Glasgow Queen Street station to Newcastle for £21.20 with a Senior Railcard, with a change to LNER at Edinburgh.
- I even had a reserved seat after Edinburgh.
- I found a good unreserved seat on the 13:00 Glasgow Queen Street to Edinburgh train, which left on time.
- It arrived in Edinburgh a minute late.
- As Marks & Spencer was by the platform of my Newcastle train, I was able to buy a lunch before I got on the train.
It was then that I noticed that my train took over three hours to travel to Newcastle, when I know they normally take under ninety minutes.
As the train left Edinburgh, it passed through Haymarket station, which confirmed we were going for a Grand Tour of the Southern Uplands of Scotland.
Note.
- The train took the fully-electrified line from Haymarket to Carstairs junction, where it joined the West Coast Main Line.
- I amused myself by taking pictires of the large number of wind turbines along the route and motorways and arterial roads, that share the route.
- It is certainly a route where the hills are alive with spinning wind turbines.
Eventually we arrived in Carlisle, where I took more pictures.
Note.
- The train waited at Carlisle for about 10 minutes.
- It looks like Northern Trains might have been running a pair of Class 158 trains on the Settle and Carlisle Line to add capacity. Real Time Trains confirm that they were.
- The last picture has an LNER train going North in the background.
- Some passengers joined the train at Carlisle.
By the time we left Carlisle, we taken an hour and twenty-eight minutes from Edinburgh.
Our train, then took the Tyne Valley Line to Newcastle, where I took these pictures.
Note.
- It’s not called the Tyne Valley Line for nothing.
- I didn’t see a wind farm between Carlisle and Newcastle.
- The Tyne Valley Line can handle a pair of five-car Class 800 trains.
- The train was powered for 61.4 miles on diesel.
By the time we arrived in Newcastle, we had taken a minute over three hours from Edinburgh.
I decided that I didn’t have enough time to go to Hartlepool.
- I decided to buy a ticket for London King’s Cross.
- I paid £31.20, with my Senior Railcard, for a ticket on the 16:55 Lumo.
- Two hours and 49 minutes we arrived in King’s Cross.
- We were seven minutes late.
But it was an average speed of 95.4 mph.
I have a few thoughts on the journey.
The Ambience Of The Journey Would Have been Improved By Battery-Electric Trains
The only section of the journey between Edinburgh and Newcastle, that was not electrified was the section between Carlisle and Newcastle, which is 61.4 miles.
The journey would have been a lot quieter, if the Class 800 trains had been fitted with enough batteries, to run the route on battery-power.
Rolls-Royce Secures Deal For ŠKODA-Made Hardware To Drive The Next Generation Of Nuclear Power Stations
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on techradar.
These three bullet-points act as sub-headings.
- Critical safety hardware for an upcoming range of Rolls-Royce’s turbine-equipped nuclear power stations is being provided by ŠKODA JS
- The Czech company will provide safety mechanisms for 470 MW reactors
- ŠKODA JS was bought by the Czech Republic’s state-backed electric power company ČEZ in 2022, removing it from its previous Russian owner, OMZ
These three paragraphs add more details.
Development of new nuclear plants based around Rolls-Royce turbines will feature critical safety hardware from ŠKODA JS, it has been announced. The Czechia-based company – once part of the old ŠKODA Works organization – will design and manufacture the Control Rod Drive Mechanisms, which are vital for regulating output and handling safety in emergencies.
The Rolls-Royce SMR (small modular reactor, but also referred to as UK SMR) is a reactor capable of outputting 470 MW of energy. That’s the equivalent of 150 onshore wind turbines, and offers a low-carbon, always on, and virtually invisible alternative to landscape-spoiling steel and fiberglass constructions.
Competition for nuclear hardware expertise is strong across Europe, and ŠKODA JS is considered a “tier-one” supplier. The deal is expected to be worth Kč 1 billion Czech Koruna (around £35 million) per Rolls-Royce power station.
In Clean, Affordable Energy For All, I said, I wouldn’t be surprised to see other countries join both projects, if they have something to offer. It looks like Skoda is a partner for Rolls-Royce.
Memorandum Of Understanding
The article also mentions a Memorandum of Understanding and says this.
Announcement of the ŠKODA JS built Control Rod Drive Mechanisms (CRDMs) follows an earlier Memorandum of Understanding with Rolls-Royce, in which the British company developed plans to develop sites in the Czech Republic, enabling deployment of up to 3GW of power.
That looks like the Czech Republic could be looking at six Rolls-Royce SMRs.
Conclusion
I must admit that I was a bit surprised that Rolls-Royce had gone to Skoda for such a critical component.
Consider.
- But in the 1960s, I put control systems on old machinery and you have to get it right.
- Skoda have probably worked with a lot of second-grade Russian hardware, so they make sure it works.
- Skoda are probably honoured to be working on such a prestige project.
- It might even be a tactic employed by Rolls-Ryce to get the best out of suppliers.
So long as it results in a safe and reliable reactor, who cares?
Could A Highview Power CRYOBattery Be Mounted On An Offshore Platform?
In the early days of North Sea Oil and Gas, I was asked to help two Cambridge University engineering professors, with the mathematics and some of the problems, they were having with a revolutionary design of oil or gas platform.
I was convinced it would have worked, but sadly they were unable to sell the design to even a single customer and the company folded.
I have been following a company called Highview power and their CRYOBatteries, which store electricity as liquid air.
I just wonder, if the Cambridge design could be adapted to hold say a 50MW/300 MWh CRYOBattery, which could then be erected alongside the wind turbines in a wind farm.
This battery would then smooth the output of the wind farm.
