The Hydro-Electric Digitisation Project

Date 2010

Event ID 881869

Category Project

Type Project

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/881869

The Hydro-electric Digitisation Project was carried out by Historic Scotland during 2010 and 2011. This project carried out an audit of the hydro-electric energy infrastructure in Scotland.

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Event	Type	Subtype	Notes	Date
881896	RECORDING	FIELD VISIT	The powerhouse utilised the head of water created by the construction of the Blackwater Dam to generate power for the adjacent aluminium smelter. It originally contained 11 (now 6 remain) pelton turbines which each ran two 1000 kW generators. The 25,725 kW supply was used in the production of aluminium and carbon anodes for use in electrolysis. The powerhouse design is functional with limited architectural detailing confined to some buttressing and window surrounds. The Kinlochleven enterprise was a significant advance in scale over the developments at Foyers, and represented a massive civil engineering achievement on its completion in 1909. The total UK output for aluminium at this time was 2,500 tonnes, less than a third of the capacity of the Kinlochleven scheme. This powerhouse is predated by the development at Foyers (see separate record) but is of a significantly large scale and retains a number of original turbines and generators to the interior. This powerhouse is prominently sited near the West Highland Way and is one of the last remaining buildings, along with the former carbon silos, of the former Kinlochleven Aluminium smelter. It originally contained 11 pelton turbines which each ran two 1000 kW generators. The 25,725 kW supply was used in the production of aluminium and carbon anodes for use in electrolysis. The architectural treatment of the building is a delicate balance between purely functional design and a highly reductive fusion of classical and early modernist styles, characterised by the sharply rectangular pilasters and severe profile of the building fused with the almost pediment like gable ends with central occuli. Added interest is gained from the early use of reinforced concrete and the retention of the plant with a good survival of original machinery to date. The powerhouse was stylistically influential with the majority of the pre 1943 schemes which postdate Kinlochleven adopting a similar functionalist classical design. P L Payne, 1988; E Wood, 2002; Concrete and Constructional Engineering IV,1909; Alcan, n.d., The Lochaber Water Power Scheme.	2010
881900	RECORDING	FIELD VISIT	These pipes took water from the end of the conduit down to the powerhouse. The six parallel steel pipes are each 39 inches in diameter and fall 935 feet to the powerhouse. These pipes are a good example of the early use of steel pipes imported from Germany and are still functionally linked to the powerhouse. E Wood, 2002; P L Payne, 1988.	2010
881909	RECORDING	FIELD VISIT	This pipeline links the outlet from the aqueduct and surge tank to the main powerhouse below. The Falls of Clyde scheme is an important example of the earliest large scale application of hydroelectric power for public supply in Scotland The scheme consist of two powerhouse each with an associated weir operating as run of the river schemes. All elements of the scheme are design cohesively in a modern classical style which was very influential over later developments such as the Rannoch / Tummel scheme. Buchan and Partners, Engineers, Bound plans and sections of Lanarkshire hydro-electric power schemes near Bonnington and near Nemphlar and Stonebyres Falls (1923-1924) NAS Reference, RHP 43551. Clyde Valley Electrical Power Co. 1926; J R Hume, 1976. Archive: Quarterly Journal for British Industrial and Transport History, Issue 14, 1997; R Paxton and J Shipway, 2007.	2010

The Hydro-Electric Digitisation Project

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