Inveruglas, Loch Sloy Hydro-electric Power Station
Hydroelectric Power Station (20th Century)
Site Name Inveruglas, Loch Sloy Hydro-electric Power Station
Classification Hydroelectric Power Station (20th Century)
Alternative Name(s) Sloy Power Station; Loch Sloy Hydro-electric Scheme; Inveruglas Water; Inveruglas Bay; Loch Lomond
Canmore ID 94415
Site Number NN30NW 7
NGR NN 32092 09818
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/94415
- Council Argyll And Bute
- Parish Arrochar
- Former Region Strathclyde
- Former District Dumbarton
- Former County Dunbartonshire
NN30NW 7.00 32092 29818
NN30NW 7.01 31916 09961 Feeder Pipes
For associated Loch Sloy (reservoir and dam), see also NN21SE 2.00.
Loch Sloy (1950). Buttress dam [NN21SE 2.01] on Loch Sloy (Balfour Beatty & Co), with main tunnel and surge shaft (Edmund Nuttall Sons & Co) leading to pipeline [NN30NW 7.01] (Sir William Arrol & Co) feeding a power station [NN30NW 7.00] (Hugh Leggat Ltd) on Inveruglas Bay, on Loch Lomond. Average annual output 120 mW.
J Miller 2002.
Field Visit (2010)
Sloy power Station is a large station with 4 main turbines giving a capacity of 152 MW when all are running. The station receives water via a tunnel and high pressure pipeline directly from Sloy Dam (see separate item). The station also includes an additional smaller turbine, the house set, which is used to provide power to the station itself. The station formerly operated as a control centre for the Sloy / Awe group of stations and has associated control room, office and boardroom space in addition to a grand processional entrance to the building. Sloy Power Station is an excellent example of a large station incorporating control room and office space in addition to a large turbine hall. The building is an early example of the work of NoSHEB and illustrates their confidence in the development of Scotland’s resources for hydro-electricity at this time. The interest of an early date for the work of NoSHEB is added too by the applied architectural scheme which fuses a modern functionalism with classical detailing of elements such as the large pilasters applied to the main elevation. The station also occupies a prominent position adjacent to the A85 trunk road from Glasgow to Crainlarich. P L Payne, 1988, 5; E Wood, 2002, 38; J Miller, 2002.
Note (26 October 2023)
The Loch Sloy hydro electric scheme
This was the first scheme to be tackled in 1945. Serious problems arose due to the post-war shortages of manpower and materials. The first of these was addressed by using hundreds of German prisoners of war. Access problems required the building of roads and conveyors for materials landed from Loch Lomond. Severe weather conditions delayed progress and the project was not completed until 1950.
A dam of massive buttress type was built at the south-eastern end of Loch Sloy leading to a tunnel through Ben Vorlich, followed by four circular pipelines leading to to the Loch Sloy power station at Inveruglas on the side of Loch Lomond. A surge shaft was incorporated in Ben Vorlich.
The generating sets consist of four vertical shaft Francis turbines each coupled to a 32,500 kW alternator. Delays due to adverse weather continued and transport problems for the heavy equipment which was finally installed by 1950. When fully loaded the turbines pass a million gallons of water per minute.
Information from NRHE item catalogue number WP007424 compiled by George Walker in 2005.
