Award winning small run-of-river hydro power station
Located near the beautiful nature reserve of Loch Maree, Grudie Hydro is a small two-megawatt scheme on the River Grudie in Wester Ross that provides clean power to remote communities.
Our team was commissioned to complete the detailed design for the impounding intake structure, pressure pipeline, and power station building and services for the scheme. Sensitive to the local environment, we created a visually low-impact design with a buried building with stone facade for the station which blends into its surroundings while generating sufficient clean energy to power nearly 1,700 homes.
Water collected from a burn flows through an intake that excludes fish and debris and carries it through to a buried station—which generates power from a pair of Gilkes-supplied one-megawatt Francis turbines—before discharging through a tailrace back into the river. Renewable and clean electricity generated by the scheme feeds directly into the local distribution network.
The quality of design and construction of this project enhances the local environment and is an asset to the owner, RWE, and Scotland’s overall power generation network. It was shortlisted for the Institution of Civil Engineers’ Saltire Award and described as a benchmark for future projects.
At a Glance
- Offices
- Client
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- RWE npower Ltd
- Award
- ICE Saltire Civil Engineering Award
Craig Scott, Hydropower and Dams Sector Leader, UK & Europe
I recognize that with every project there are many stakeholders involved—from governmental entities down to individual users of the energy.
Matthew Hill, Senior Technical Director
Many of the UK’s dams are over 120 years old—we must all act as custodians of our heritage and maintain aging assets for future generations.
Marc Sheikh, Project Manager
Waterpower engineers have the opportunity of a generation to change the way we live. The challenge is immense, but so is the personal reward.
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