UK To France Automotive Train Service Launched
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on Railway Gazette.
This is the introductory paragraph.
DB Cargo UK has launched a rail service transporting Corolla hybrid cars manufactured at Toyota’s Derby plant in the UK to Valenciennes in France via the Channel Tunnel, returning with Aygo, Yaris and Yaris+ vehicles.
It sounds very sensible and efficient, as the trains seem full both ways.
Repurposing The Sloy/Awe Hydro Scheme
The Sloy/Awe hydro-electric scheme was built in the 1930s and 1950s, by the North of Scotland Hydroelectric Board.
- The scheme is now owned by SSE Renewables and has a page on their web site.
- There are ten individual power stations; Sloy, Sron Mor, Clachan, Allt-na-Lairige, Nant, Inverawe, Inverawe, Loch Gair, Striven and Lussa.
- There are four dams; Sloy, Allt-na-Lairige and two dams at Shira.
- Cruachan used to be part of this scheme, but is now owned by Drax.
This map from the SSE Renewables web site shows the layout of the dams and power stations.
The sizes of the power stations in the scheme are as follows.
- Sloy – 152.5 MW
- Sron Mor – 5 MW
- Clachan – 40 MW
- Allt-na-Lairige – 6 MW
- Nant – 15 MW
- Inverawe – 25 MW
- Kilmelford – 2 MW
- Loch Gair – 6 MW
- Striven – 8 MW
- Lussa – 2.4 MW
This gives a total power of 261.9 MW.
It should be noted that Cruachan power station is also in this area and in Drax’s Plans For Cruachan, I talked about expanding the station from a 440 MW/7.1 GWh pumped-storage station to one of 1040 MW/7.1 GWh.
Scotland would appear to have 1.3 GW of hydro-electric power between Loch Awe and Loch Lomond.
This Google Map shows the same area as the SSE Renewables Map.
Note.
- Loch Awe, which is the sixth biggest freshwater loch in Scotland, is in the North-East corner.
- Loch Fyne, which is the longest sea loch in Scotland, is in the South-West corner.
- Loch Lomond, which is the second biggest freshwater loch in Scotland, is in the South-East corner.
- Loch Long reaches up from the South to the West of Loch Lomond.
These are four big lochs.
Strathclyde University And Pumped Storage Power For Scotland
This page on the Strathclyde University gives a list of the pumped storage potential for Scottish hydrogen-electric dams and power stations.
These figures are given for the dams and lochs in the Sloy/Awe scheme.
- Sloy – 20 GWh
- Nant – 48 GWh
It would appear that based on research from Strathclyde University, that the Sloy/Awe scheme could support over 60 GWh of pumped storage.
Water Flows In The Sloy/Awe Scheme
Looking at the SSE Renewables map of the Sloy/Awe scheme, water flows appear to be as follows.
- Loch Awe to Loch Etive via Inverawe power station.
- Cruachan reservoir to Loch Awe via Cruachan power station.
- Loch Nant to Loch Awe via Nant power station.
- Loch Nant to Loch Etive via Inverawe power station.
- Lochan Shira to Lochan Sron Mor via Sron Mor power station.
- Lochan Sron Mor to Loch Fyne via Clachan power station.
- Allt-na-Lairige reservoir to Loch Fyne via Allt-na-Lairige power station.
- Loch Sloy to Loch Lomond via Sloy power station.
All the water eventually flows into the sea to the West from Loch Etive and Loch Fyne.
Refurbishing And Repurposing The Sloy/Awe Scheme
Perhaps as the power stations are now over fifty years old, one simple way to increase the generating capacity of the Sloy/Awe scheme, might be to selectively replace the turbines, with modern turbines, that can generate electricity more efficiently.
I suspect that SSE Renewables have an ongoing program of improvements and replacements for all of their hydro-electric stations in Scotland. Some turbines at Sloy power station have already been replaced with larger ones.
Adding Pumped Storage To The Sloy/Awe Scheme
Strathclyde University picked out two places where pumped storage could be added; Sloy and Nant.
I discussed Sloy power station in A Lower-Cost Pumped Hydro Storage System and came to these conclusions.
- For £40 million, 14 GWh of pumped storage can be created at Sloy.
- But it could be bigger than 14 GWh, as this page on the Strathclyde University web site, says 20.4 GWh is possible.
- This would surely, be a project that could be first in the queue, once the environmental problems are solved.
20 GWh or even 14 GWh of pumped storage would be nice to have reasonably quickly.
As I said, this must be a high priority project.
The other project is at Loch Nant.
Note.
- Loch Nant is in the Western side of the map.
- Nant power station is marked by the red arrow.
- The loch to the South of the power station is Loch Awe.
- It appears that water can also go from Loch Nant to Inverawe power station to the North-East of the loch.
- Inverawe power station is on Loch Awe, which curves round Loch Nant.
- The 440MW/7.1 GWh Cruachan pumped-storage power station is on the other side of Loch Awe in the North East corner of the map, with the Cruachan dam and reservoir above.
Strathclyde University says that 48 MWh of pumped-storage could be possible at Loch Nant.
- Comparing the size of Cruchan reservoir at 7.1 GWh and the larger Loch Nant, gives me hope that Loch Nant could hold upwards of 20-30 GWh.
- From pictures on this page at Subterranea Britannica, it appears Nant power station has only a single 15 MW turbo-generator.
- Inverawe power station is a 25 MW power station with a single turbo-generator.
I suspect that pump-turbines could be installed to fill Loch Nant from Loch Awe, just as was done at Foyers, where a 300 MW pumped storage power station was created.
Conclusion
There would appear to be up to two schemes, that could each add around 20 GWh of pumped storage.
One advantage is that the waters of Loch Awe and Loch Lomond can be used for the lower reservoir.
Worried For Clive
On a bus on Saturday, I sat next to a lady of about my age and we got talking about Russia’s illegal attack on Ukraine.
We then started talking about BBC’s news correspondent in Ukraine; Clive Myrie.
We were both worried about Clive.
This article on the BBC is entitled Racism In Russia: Stories Of Prejudice and it details a stories of a black student and others in the country. I also remember, when I went to see Ipswich play in Moscow, that a black fan told me he had been abused on the Moscow Metro.
I do wonder that if Kyiv falls, that Clive will not have an easy time.
Let’s hope Clive was born lucky!
Ukraine Crisis: Fifa And Uefa Suspend All Russian Clubs And National Teams
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on the BBC.
This first paragraph says it all.
Russian football clubs and national teams have been suspended from all competitions by Fifa and Uefa after the country’s invasion of Ukraine.
It looks like it is a complete ban from both Fifa and Uefa.
Vlad the Invader/Mad/Poisoner (Delete as appropriate!), is reportedly not amused.
My father, who had something to do with the League of Nations, felt that we didn’t act soon enough over Hitler and Stalin and I could argue we should have acted with tough sanctions after Putin annexed Crimea in 2014.
Is This Weapon Helping The Ukranians?
In The Times today, there is an article, which gives a list of what weapons have been supplied to the Ukrainians.
Included are.
- Javelins from the US and Estonia
- Stingers from Germany and the Netherlands
- Panzerfaust 3 from the Netherlands.
But there is no mention of the MBT LAW. This is the introduction to the Wikipedia entry for the weapon.
The Main Battle Tank and Light Anti-tank Weapon (MBT LAW), also known as the NLAW, is a joint British and Swedish short-range fire-and-forget anti-tank missile system. Designed for use by infantry, the MBT LAW is shoulder fired and disposable, firing once before being disposed of. It is currently in use with the military forces of the United Kingdom, Finland, Luxembourg, Ukraine, and Sweden, among others.
There is a lot of interesting information in the Wikipedia entry.
- It is fired once and the launcher is thrown away.
- It has a soft-launch, which allows it to be fired from an enclosed space.
- It is designed to be fired at moving targets.
I also think, that it could be a weapon, where a dummy version could be built that would be a superb training simulator.
- The trainee would sit on the range with his dummy weapon and go through the process of identifying a target and pulling the trigger.
- The dummy could even simulate the forces of launching a real missile.
- The simulator would calculate the trajectory of the missile and tell the trainee and his instructor, if they had hit the target.
The missile would not be fired and there would be no damage to the target.
This is said about deliveries to Ukraine.
At least 2,000 NLAW units are known to be supplied to Ukraine by the United Kingdom by 19 January 2022 and more shipments, including by other supporters, can be assumed amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
The Times says this about the training of Ukrainian forces and British Army tactics.
Since 2015 about 22,000 Ukrainian troops have been trained by the British Army as part of Operation Orbital.
Price said anti-armour ambushes of the sort deployed by Ukrainian forces were pretty much the bread and butter of the British infantry, adding: “If you have a classic column of 10 to 20 tanks and you’ve got a wide field of fire then you can knock two or three of them out and then the rest are sitting ducks and they can’t reverse out. Then you finish them off,” he said.
Note that Price is Kevin Price a former British Army major.
It sounds like a few well-trained soldiers sitting in a protected bunker armed with this missile could play havoc with a tank formation.
Ukraine: Anger Over Russian Oil Tanker Due In Orkney
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on the BBC.
This is the first two paragraphs.
Russian ships could have their access to UK ports restricted, under plans being considered at Westminster.
It follows concerns that a Russian-owned tanker is due at an Orkney oil terminal within days.
The tanker is going to pick up oil.
I can understand the anger, but as we are led to believe that the Russians have plenty of oil and gas does it matter that we sell them a tanker full, provided the cheque or transfer doesn’t bounce?
We should sell the Russians anything that has nothing to do with the war, but things like luxury goods will not help them in their takeover of Ukraine.
The list would include goods like expensive cars, but not trucks or 4 x 4’s, Scotch whisky, jewellery, chocolates and expensive clothes.
Thoughts On The Balliemeanoch Pumped-Hydro Scheme
I first talked about the Balliemeanoch Pumped-Hydro Scheme in ILI Group To Develop 1.5GW Pumped Storage Hydro Project, which I wrote earlier this month.
I was a bit unsure as to where the high-level reservoir would be sited, although, the original report said the low-level reservoir was Loch Awe.
I then found this in an article on The Scotsman.
Project Balliemeanoch will see Lochan Airigh turned into a headpond containing 58 million cubic metres of water.
This Google Map shows Lochan Airigh.
At not much more than a hundred metres across, you wouldn’t call Lochan Airigh a large loch.
But look at its position compared to the village of Ballimeanoch on the shore of Loch Awe in this Google Map.
The North of Scotland Hydroelectric Board built Cruachan pumped-storage power station round the corner in Loch Awe in the early 1960s, so I would believe construction is possible.
But Cruachan is only a 7.1 GWh scheme, whereas Balliemeanoch is planned as a 45 GWh giant.
Fortescue Starts Building Hydrogen Electrolyser Plant That Will Double Global Production
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on RenewEconomy.
These are the first two paragraphs.
Fortescue Future Industries has begun construction of what it says will be the world’s largest electrolyser manufacturing facility in Gladstone, Queensland, the first stage of a massive plant that could also make wind turbines, solar panels, batteries and cables.
Fortescue Future Industries, the newly created green energy part of Andrew Forrest’s iron ore empire Fortescue Metals, and a key component of his massive and highly ambitious green hydrogen plans, says the firsts electrolysers will roll off the factory floor in 2023.
Production is to be at a level of 2 GW per year.
Repurposing The Breadalbane Hydro-Electric Scheme
The Breadalbane hydro-electric scheme was built in the 1950s and early 1960s, by the North of Scotland Hydroelectric Board.
- The scheme is now owned by SSE Renewables and has a page on their web site.
- There are seven individual power stations; Lubreoch, Cashlie, Lochay, Finlarig, Lednock, St Fillans and Dalchonzie.
- There are five dams; Lawers, Breaclaich, Lednock, Lubreoch and Giorra.
This map from the SSE Renewables web site shows the layout of the dams and power stations.
The sizes of the power stations in the scheme are as follows.
- Lubreoch – 4 MW
- Cashlie – 11 MW
- Lochay – 45 MW
- Finlarig – 16.5 MW
- Lednock – 3 MW
- St Fillans – 16.8 MW
- Dalchonzie – 4 MW
This gives a total power of 100.3 MW.
This Google Map shows Loch Tay.
Note
- Finlarig. where there is a power station, with a capacity of 16.5 MW.
- Ben Lawers dam, is to the West of Ben Lawers and is marked by a blue arrow.
- The biggest power station in the scheme is Lochay power station, which has a capacity of 45 MW.
- Lochay power station is to the West of Finlarig power station and both appear to be fed from Ben Lawers dam and others to the North.
This Google Map shows Loch Earn.
Note.
- Loch Earn is South of Loch Tay
- The red arrow indicates Dalchonzie power station.
- Dalchonzie power station has a generating capacity of only 4 MW.
This Google Map shows the location of Loch Lednoch between Loch Tay and Loch Earn.
Note that Lednoch has the 3 MW Lednoch power station at its Northern end.
This map shows to the West of Ben Lawers.
The red arrow indicate the rough location of the 11 MW Cashlie power station.
Is The Breadalbane Scheme Complete?
Looking at the dates of power station construction, I wonder if the dam builders concentrated in the early 1960s on the construction of Cruachan pumped storage station, which was constructed between 1959 and 1965.
Also to me, the Breadalbane scheme seems to have a lot of power stations and tunnels for just over 100 MW.
- At Rannoch, there is a 44 MW power station on the shores of Loch Rannoch, that was built in 1930.
- At Sloy there is a 152.5 MW power station on the shores of Loch Lomond, that was built in 1950.
I would have thought that a progression from Sloy, would have seen a large power station built on the shores of Loch Tay, whereas Lochay power station is only 44 MW.
This Google Map shows Lochan Breaclaich, which is a lake created by the construction of Breaclaich dam.
Lochan Breaclaich is marked by the red arrow and it is Loch Tay at the top of the map.
This page on the Canmore web site gives these details of Lochan Breaclaich and its dam.
Breaclaich dam is designed to prevent Loch Breachlaich and a number of other intakes from discharging into the Loch Tay catchment. A tunnel intake gatehouse is upstream of the dam and takes water via tunnel and pipeway through to Lednock power station.
The SSE map shows this tunnel to the North-Western end of Loch Lednoch, where the Lednoch power station is located.
It seems a lot of work was done to feed the power station, which has a capacity of just 3 MW.
Was it originally intended that Lochan Breaclaich would have fed a large power station on the Southern shore of Loch Tay?
Strathclyde University And Pumped Storage Power For Scotland
This page on the Strathclyde University gives a list of the pumped storage potential for Scottish hydrogen-electric dams and power stations.
These figures are given for the dams and lochs in the Breadalbane scheme.
- Ben Lawers – 12 GWh
It would appear that based on research from Strathclyde University, that the Breadalbane scheme could support 12 GWh of pumped storage.
Could this be augmented by a pumped-storage scheme from the Southern shore of Loch Tay to Lochan Breaclaich?
- Lochan Breaclaich is at an altitude of 443 metres.
- Loch Tay is at an altitude of 106 metres.
- Foyers pumped storage has a capacity of 300 MW and a head of 179 metres.
If a 12 GWh pumped storage system can be built on the North side of Loch Tay, I can’t see why with a head of 337 metres, one can’t be built on the South side of the Loch.
Was this the original plan?
Water Flows In The Breadalbane Scheme
Looking at the SSE Renewables map of the Great Glen scheme, water flows appear to be as follows.
- Loch an Daimh to Stronuich Reservoir via Cashlie power station
- Loch Lyon to Stronuich Reservoir via Lubreoch power station
- Stronuich Reservoir to Lochay power station
- Loch Ben Lawers to Finlarig power station
- Lochan Breaclaich to Loch Lednock via Lednoch power station
- Loch Lednock to Loch Earn via St. Fillans power station
- Loch Earn to Dalchonzie power station
It seems to be an expensive scheme with lots of tunnels and an underground power station at St. Fillans.
Refurbishing And Repurposing The Breadalbane Scheme
Perhaps as the power stations are now over fifty years old, one simple way to increase the generating capacity of the Breadalbane scheme, might be to selectively replace the turbines, with modern turbines, that can generate electricity more efficiently.
I suspect that SSE Renewables have an ongoing program of improvements and replacements for all of their hydro-electric stations in Scotland. Some turbines at Sloy power station have already been replaced with larger ones.
Adding Pumped Storage To The Breadalbane Scheme
In this list of Scotland’s lochs on Wikipedia, there is a short list of the largest and deepest lochs.
- The first five are Loch Ness, Loch Lomond, Loch Morar, Loch Tay and Loch Awe.
- Loch Ness has the Foyers pumped-storage scheme and others are in development.
- Loch Awe has the Cruachan pumped-storage scheme.
- Loch Lomond has the Sloy pumped-storage scheme in development.
- Loch Morar is used in the Lochaber hydro-electric scheme.
It seems to me, that Loch Tay could support some pumped-storage, just because of its size.
Strathclyde University have identified that Ben Lawers can support 12 GWh on the North side of Loch Tay.
Could a scheme involving Lochan Breaclaich add a similar amount of pumped-storage on the South side of Loch Tay?
I also suspect there are possibilities for adding pumped-storage to and from Stronuich Reservoir.
Conclusion
I believe that Breadalbane is an incomplete scheme and that pumped-storage could convert this scheme into a much more powerful and larger scheme.
There would appear to be two schemes, that could each add around 12 GWh of pumped storage.
One advantage is that the waters of Loch Tay can be used for the lower reservoir.
Shin Hydro Power Scheme
The Shin hydro-electric scheme was built in the 1930s and 1950s, by the North of Scotland Hydroelectric Board.
- The scheme is now owned by SSE Renewables and has a page on their web site.
- There are three individual power stations; Casseley, Lairg and Shin.
- There are two dams
This map from the SSE Renewables web site shows the layout of the dams and power stations.
The sizes of the power stations in the scheme are as follows.
- Casseley – 10 MW
- Lairg – 3.5 MW
- Shin – 18.6 MW
This gives a total power of 32.1 MW.
This Google Map shows the same area as the SSE Renewables Map.
Note.
- Shin power station is in the South-West corner of the map.
- Loch Shin is the large area of water in the top half of the map.
- The village of Lairg is at the South end of Loch Shin.
This Google Map sows Shin power station in detail.
Note.
There is a large substation on the left side of the map.
Shin power station is the building straddling the water to the right of the substation.
I have found this informative press release on the SSE web site, which is entitled £5 m Investment In Shin Hydro Station.
These are a couple of paragraphs.
John McDonald, Hydro Manager for SSE said: “This is the first major overhaul of Shin Hydro Station in its 55-year history – a true testament to the reliability and longevity of hydro-electric power.
“There are few other industries that could claim to be making the same product with the same machines and same specifications as they were in the 1950s. This overhaul will mean that Shin will be producing clean, green electricity for decades to come.”
Surely, that is an argument for more hydro schemes.
This Google Map shows Lairg.
Note that there are two dams and a bridge across Loch Shin/River Shin.
This Google Map shows dam at the Southern end of the Loch.
This Google Map shows Lairg dam and power station at the Northern end of the village.
It would appear to be a much simpler scheme, than others I have examined.
Conclusion
I would be very surprised if any pumped storage were to be added to this scheme.
The Anonymous Widower 