Resonox wrote: Some programme on last week was extolling the benefits of Hydro-Electricity...which would be used to power great swathes of middle England.....now bearing in mind Hydro-electricity has been on the go in Scotland for several years(decades) now.....when it was first touted it was as FREE energy for everyone...government lies....
My father (now 89) after returning from WW2 service in India, Burma and Malaya was employed building and installing the switching gear for the hydro schemes in Perthshire. It involved many weeks and months away from family. He didn't get rich. He was part of a masssive project which not only built the hydro schemes, but also extended the grid to highland communities, hamlets and farms which had been beyond the reach of the Grid. It was a positive, far sighted project which did much for the country in the aftermath of WW2.
However what Scotland (and the rest of the UK) got was not an endless source of free electricity. It was/is really only ever used for times of peak demand where the National Grid needs a big boost (the Eastenders/ kettle on cup of tea surge). Once you drop the level in a loch, it is dropped, you need to refill it. Sometimes water is piped in from other lochs within the system. There are massive tunnels and piping sytems connecting dozens of lochs. The sluices are opened and whoosh - the turbines turn - the juice is cranked up - the Grid can cope. The nations TVs stay on and everyone's kettles boil!
If you are ever up at Tummel, Lyon, Lochan na Lainge at Lawers or even at the rock art near the Lochay Power Station by Killin, you will find the original sixty year old turbines, switching gear and delightful utilitarian buildings. They sit quietly, often inobtrusively in the landscape, humming away and doing exactly what they were built to do. The rock art by the Lochay Power Station is still there and I love the juxtaposition. I also love pylons across a wild landscape.
Reply | with quote | Posted by Howburn Digger 20th November 2011ce 11:35 |
Wind farms in Scotland (moss, Mar 11, 2011, 09:42)- Re: Wind farms in Scotland (BigSweetie, Mar 11, 2011, 13:50)
- Re: Wind farms in Scotland (Littlestone, Mar 13, 2011, 15:32)
- Re: Wind farms in Scotland (thelonious, Mar 15, 2011, 17:05)
- Re: Wind farms in Scotland (Resonox, Mar 15, 2011, 18:43)
- Re: Wind farms in Scotland (moss, Mar 15, 2011, 18:59)
- Re: Wind farms in Scotland (thelonious, Mar 15, 2011, 19:41)
- Re: Wind farms in Scotland (thelonious, Nov 15, 2011, 12:25)
- Re: Wind farms in Scotland (moss, Nov 16, 2011, 11:27)
- Re: Wind farms in Scotland (goffik, Nov 16, 2011, 12:53)
- OT: Government's attitude to green energy (thesweetcheat, Nov 16, 2011, 18:17)
- Re: OT: Government's attitude to green energy (jshell, Nov 17, 2011, 11:55)
- Re: OT: Government's attitude to green energy (tjj, Nov 17, 2011, 14:09)
- Re: OT: Government's attitude to green energy (thesweetcheat, Nov 17, 2011, 17:11)
- Re: OT: Government's attitude to green energy (GLADMAN, Nov 18, 2011, 23:48)
- Re: OT: Government's attitude to green energy (Sanctuary, Nov 19, 2011, 07:14)
- Re: OT: Government's attitude to green energy (moss, Nov 19, 2011, 10:56)
- Re: OT: Government's attitude to green energy (jshell, Nov 19, 2011, 12:06)
- Re: OT: Government's attitude to green energy (jshell, Nov 23, 2011, 13:34)
- Re: OT: Government's attitude to green energy (PMM, Nov 23, 2011, 14:00)
- Re: OT: Government's attitude to green energy (juamei, Nov 23, 2011, 15:17)
- Re: OT: Government's attitude to green energy (jshell, Nov 23, 2011, 16:34)
- Some Glacial Science.... (jshell, Nov 23, 2011, 16:51)
- Why we believe glaciers melt due to climate change..... (jshell, Nov 23, 2011, 18:00)
- Re: OT: Government's attitude to green energy (PMM, Nov 24, 2011, 16:39)
- Fuck It! Another Climate-Gate Style Leak... (jshell, Nov 22, 2011, 15:13)
- Re: Wind farms in Scotland (drewbhoy, Mar 15, 2011, 20:43)
- Re; Caithness area (moss, Mar 18, 2011, 08:40)
- Re: Wind farms in Scotland (Littlestone, Mar 18, 2011, 11:18)
- Re: Wind farms in Scotland (Sanctuary, Nov 20, 2011, 09:19)
- Re: Wind farms in Scotland (Howburn Digger, Jan 19, 2012, 20:09)
- Re: Wind farms in Scotland (juamei, Jan 19, 2012, 21:21)
- Re: Wind farms in Scotland (thesweetcheat, Jan 19, 2012, 21:25)
- Re: Wind farms in Scotland (drewbhoy, Jan 19, 2012, 23:06)
- Re: Wind farms in Scotland (moss, Jan 20, 2012, 10:21)
- Re: Wind farms in Scotland (goffik, Jan 27, 2012, 17:02)
|
|