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.
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.
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.
On The Bonnie, Bonnie Banks o’ Loch Lomon’
I couldn’t resist using the first line of one of the most famous Scottish traditional songs, as the title of this post.
But a very significant power station project, is to be undertaken in the area.
These are the opening few sentences of the Wikipedia entry for the Loch Sloy Hydro-Electric Scheme.
The Loch Sloy Hydro-Electric Scheme is a hydro-electric facility situated between Loch Sloy and Inveruglas on the west bank of Loch Lomond in Scotland. It is also within the Arrochar Alps. The site was originally suggested as the location of a huge pumped-storage scheme in 1936 by Edward MacColl, but this was rejected as being uneconomic. After the North of Scotland Hydro-Electric Board was created in 1943, it became the first of their proposed schemes.
This Google Map shows Loch Lomond and Loch Sloy.
Note.
- Loch Sloy is in the North-West corner of the map.
- Loch Lomond is on the Eastern side of the map.
- The red arrow indicates the main buildings of the LochSloy Hydro-Electric Power Station.
- Loch Sloy is eight-hundred feet above Loch Lomond.
- The total generating capacity of the power station is 152.5 MW.
The facility is operated by Scottish and Southern Energy, and is normally in standby mode, ready to generate electricity to meet sudden peaks in demand. It can reach full capacity within 5 minutes from a standing start.
This second Google Map shows the power station to a larger scale.
Note.
- Loch Sloy is to the North-West of the North-West corner of the map.
- Loch Lomond is on the Eastern side of the map.
- The red arrow indicates the main buildings of the Loch Sloy Hydro-Electric Power Station.
- The four pipes carry water from Loch Sloy to the actual power station.
- The single-track West Highland Line crosses over the four pipes at their South-Eastern end.
The design of Loch Sloy Hydro-Electric Power Station is typical of many hydro-electric stations all over the world.
This third map is an OpenRailwayMap of the area.
Note.
- Loch Sloy is on the Western side of the map.
- Loch Lomond is on the Eastern side of the map.
- The yellow track is the single-track West Highland Line between Glasgow and Mallaig via Fort William
- The blue arrow indicates Ardlui station.
The railway goes close to the power station.
A Platinum Celebration for Sloy Power Station!
The title of this section is the same as this must-read web page on the SSE web site, which dates from 2020.
Sloy Power Station Development Plans
This second must read web page on the SSE web site is entitled Sloy Power Station.
This is the sub-heading.
We’re Proposing To Convert Our Iconic 1950s Hydro Station To Pumped Storage Hydro
This is the introduction to the development.
In April 2025, we submitted a planning application to the Scottish Government to convert the iconic Sloy Power Station into a pumped storage hydro scheme.
Our proposals would bolster energy security and help provide the large-scale and flexible renewable energy back-up needed in a future UK net zero power system, helping meet the UK Government’s ambition of Clean Power by 2030.
If approved for delivery, the converted Sloy scheme would be capable of delivering up to 16GWh of long-duration electricity storage capacity.
It could provide firm, flexible renewable energy for up to 100 hours non-stop.
It appears that the upgraded power station will effectively become a 160 MW/16 GWh long duration energy store.
Currently, the UK’s largest pumped storage power station is the 1727 MW/9.1 GWh Electric Mountain in North Wales.
The updated Sloy power station will have less output, but more storage capacity, than Electric Mountain.
Should There Be A Railway Station At Loch Sloy Power Station?
Google AI gives this answer in reply to “Loch Sloy Railway Station”.
There was never a permanent public railway station called Loch Sloy, but temporary private platforms like Inveruglas railway station and Faslane Platform railway station served the area. These stops were built in 1945 by the London and North Eastern Railway (LNER) to haul materials and workers—including prisoners of war—for the construction of the Loch Sloy Hydro-Electric Scheme.
Note.
- Surely, similar reasons to those in 1945 could apply to the development of the power station. Materials and workers could be brought in by rail.
- Given, the power station’s historic significance, I believe that it could become a tourist attraction and/or education centre.It could be a stop for the Caledonian Sleeper.
I believe that as time passes, the power station’s historic significance will increase.
Are There Any Other Hydro Power Stations, That Can Be Upgraded To Pumped Storage Hydro?
Google AI can’t find anything at present.
UK’s Largest Onshore Wind Farm To Be Rebuilt With Fewer, Larger Turbines
The title of this post is the same as that of this article on the BBC.
This is the sub-heading.
One of Europe’s biggest onshore wind farms is to be flattened and rebuilt with fewer, taller turbines, its owner has announced.
These three paragraphs add more detail to the story.
Whitelee Windfarm has been producing electricity for about 20 years on a stretch of moorland near Eaglesham, south of Glasgow, but is reaching the end of its life.
Scottish Power Renewables says the existing 215 turbines will be replaced in three phases with around 124, each of which will be about 110m (361ft) taller.
The £1.5 billion “repowering” project will take 10 years to complete and will double the electricity output from 539 megawatts to 1 gigawatt, which is enough to power about 650,000 homes.
I asked Google AI,”Will there be any objectors to the repowering of Whitelee Wind Farm” and received this reply.
While there are no formal objectors on record yet, opposition to the repowering of Whitelee Wind Farm is highly anticipated. The developer, ScottishPower Renewables, officially filed their proposal with the Scottish Government in July 2026, but the formal planning application is not expected to be submitted until December 2027.
Anticipated objectors and their concerns typically include:
Campaign Groups & Environmentalists: Organisations like Scotland Against Spin generally challenge large-scale onshore wind projects over landscape dominance, ecological impacts, and the sheer scale of the new turbines.
Visual and Height Concerns: The repowering plan proposes replacing the existing 215 turbines with roughly 124 much larger machines. Each new turbine will stand roughly 110m taller than the current ones, which is expected to draw objections from those concerned about the visual alteration of the moorland.
Aviation and Radar Issues: Taller turbines and longer blades frequently raise fresh concerns and potential clearance objections from civil aviation and military radar stakeholders.
The BBC article finishes with this paragraph.
The work at Whitelee is expected to generate about £330m for the Scottish economy.
How many Scottish jobs will a third of a billion pounds sustain?
Loganair Agrees To Buy Five Beta Technologies’ Alia CTOL (CX300) Electric Aircraft For Use Across Scotland
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on the John O’Groat Journal.
These two paragraphs add some detail.
A “truly historic moment” in regional air travel could soon see electric aircraft transporting passengers between between Highlands and Islands airports.
Loganair announced a deal to buy five all-electric aircraft, with options for five more, on Monday.
The first aircraft is expected to be in service in 2029.
As an engineer and a former private pilot, I felt this would happen at some time, but not as early as this.
Read the Wikipedia entry for the plane to find out more about this fascinating aircraft.
Meet The 6×6 Toyota Hilux Built To Tackle Electric Car Fires
The title of this post, is the same as that as this article on Select Car Leasing.
This is the sub-heading.
A car fire is never a good thing, and if the car is electric, the results could be even worse. If it all goes up in flames while the vehicle is in a multi-storey car park, then the consequences could be dire, with limited space available for fire services to control the situation.
This introductory paragraph adds some more details.
Such incidents happen — more than 1,000 cars were destroyed in a fire in Liverpool, while a multi-storey collapsed in Stavanger — so a UK company has converted a Toyota Hilux pickup into a six-wheel EV fire-fighting machine to keep us all safe.
A lot more details are given on the vehicle’s web site, which is called the 6 x 6 HILOAD.
I was alerted to the need for such a vehicle by this article in The Times, which is entitled How Scotland’s New £30k Fire Engines Left Crews Walking To Wildfires.
The pictures on the 6 x 6 HILOAD web site, show a vehicle with a Czechnia registration.
So, I typed “6 x 6 HILOAD Czechnia” into Google AI and received this answer.
The 6×6 Hiload (developed by Prospeed Motorsport) is a custom, six-wheeled conversion of the Toyota Hilux designed specifically for emergency response, particularly targeting electric vehicle (EV) battery fires.In Czechia, the 6×6 Hiload is undergoing trials with Czech Fire & Rescue Services (Hasiči) to test its capabilities in fast-response and confined environments. Key features of the vehicle in action include:
EV Firefighting: It utilizes specialized equipment like the Coldcut Cobra system, which pierces EV battery casings to extinguish fires directly with a minimal amount of water, reducing the risk of thermal runaway.
Low Profile: Standing at less than 1.9 metres tall, it can easily navigate low-clearance urban underground and multi-storey car parks that traditional, larger fire engines cannot access.
High Payload: The custom six-wheel chassis stretches the Hilux and increases its payload capacity to roughly 3,000kg, allowing it to carry heavy fire and rescue equipment without sacrificing off-road mobility.
This chassis will have more uses than a Swiss army knife.
I suspect the Ukrainians could find several uses.
Murphy Starts Work On £2.5bn Eastern Green Link 1
The title of this post, is the same as that as this article on Construction Enquirer.
This is the sub-heading.
Murphy has started work on its first package on the vast £2.5bn Eastern Green Link 1
These two paragraphs add more detail.
The joint venture between SP Energy Networks and National Grid Electricity Transmission will see the installation of a 196km, high voltage, subsea electricity cable between Torness in East Lothian, Scotland, and Hawthorn Pit in County Durham.
Murphy is one of the main works contractors alongside Metlen, GE Vernova and Prysmian.
Murphy’s task seems to be to design and build the new substation, integrate it with the existing one and connect it all to Eastern Green Link 1 and other assets. Work is expected to complete in March 2028.
Google AI predicts that Eastern Green Link 1 will be commissioned by 2029, so it should be up and running before the expected election helping to balance and stabilise Scottish and English wind power at a rate of up to 2 GW day and night.
The Future Of Drax Power Station
This first paragraph from the Wikipedia entry for Drax power station gives a factual description of the power station.
Drax power station is a large biomass power station in Drax, North Yorkshire, England. It has a 2.6 GW capacity for biomass and had a 1.29 GW capacity for coal that was retired in 2021. Its name comes from the nearby village of Drax. It is situated on the River Ouse between Selby and Goole. Its generating capacity of 3,906 megawatts (MW), which includes the shut down coal units, is the highest of any power station in the United Kingdom, providing about 6% of the United Kingdom’s electricity supply.
This second extract from Wikipedia gives details of its current biomass contract and subsidy.
Drax’s subsidy scheme was scheduled to end in 2027, with Drax arguing for an extension to 2030. In February 2025, the UK government extended its operation from 2027 to 2031, but at a reduced 27% maximum load factor using 100% sustainable wood, so it would run “less than half as often as it currently does”, generally only at times of high electricity demand. Drax was given a contract for difference at £113/MWh in 2012 pounds, CPI inflation linked so about £155/MWh in 2025.
Note.
- Rishi Sunak’s Government extended the contract.
- It will now run on 100% sustainable wood, which includes sources like sawmill residues, forest thinnings and certain agricultural products.
- It has a similar type of contract to wind farms and energy storage.
I asked Google AI,”Does Drax Power Station Provide Grid Stability?, and received this answer.
Yes, Drax Power Station—along with its affiliated hydro assets—provides critical grid stability to the UK. As the UK’s power grid shifts toward intermittent renewables like wind and solar, Drax’s dispatchable generation and specialized system support services help maintain a secure electricity network.
The key stability services provided by the Drax portfolio include:
Inertia: Drax’s large spinning turbines and pumped hydro facilities provide vital inertia to the grid. This acts like a shock absorber, helping to control changes in frequency (maintaining 50Hz) and preventing power cuts.
Reactive Power: The facilities help manage voltage support and move power efficiently across different parts of the network.
Dispatchable Power: Unlike weather-dependent generation, Drax’s biomass and hydro plants can be ramped up or down on demand, providing firm capacity and flexible response to real-time grid needs.
Pumped Storage Support: Through its subsidiary Cruachan Power Station in Scotland, Drax operates a pumped hydro storage plant that actively balances supply and demand and holds specialized stability contracts with the National Grid Electricity System Operator (ESO).
So if you love or loathe the power station, it does a lot more than burn biomass to generate electricity.
Drax Power Station And Eastern Green Link Two
The Eastern Green Link Two web site is here.
This is the sub-heading
Eastern Green Link 2 (known as EGL2) is one of the most significant strategic energy infrastructure developments the UK has seen in recent years, connecting the north of Scotland to Yorkshire via the sea.
These two initial paragraphs gives more details.
EGL2 is a 505km electricity superhighway which will enable the transfer of power from Scotland to England (and vice versa) via a subsea cable. This two-gigawatt high voltage direct current (HVDC) cable is connecting Peterhead in Aberdeenshire and Drax in North Yorkshire and once operational, will carry enough electricity to power two million homes.
EGL2 will scale up the UK’s capacity to transport home-produced clean energy, predominantly from offshore wind, from where it is generated to where there is demand. By doing so it will increase the security, resilience, and stability of the UK’s transmission network.
EGL2 is the second of a planned seven interconnectors between Scotland and the South.
The first was the Western HVDC Link between Hunterston in Scotland and Flintshire Bridge in Wales, which became operational in 2013.
EGL2 will go between Peterhead in Scotland and Drax power station.
So electricity from Scotland will be able to replace up to two GW of the biomass, that Drax power station currently uses as fuel.
Drax And Solar Power
This Google Map shows Drax power station.
If Drax wanted to add solar power to the site, I’m sure it would be possible.
- There is plenty of space.
- There is a substantial connection to the electricity grid.
After the purchase of Bluefield Solar Income Fund, Drax probably are well-placed to develop as much solar-power as they need.
