The energy giant behind the huge Hollow Moutain hydro-power project has moved to increase capacity in a new cavern the size of Big Ben.
Energy giant Drax this week appointed an Italian engineering consultancy to head up the £500 million project that could power over 100,000 homes.
Drax, owner of the power station located inside Ben Cruachan on the shores of Loch Awe, has named Studio Pietrangeli as “owner’s engineer” on the project to double the capacity of its existing facility in Argyll.
Once completed, Cruachan 2 will have the capacity to generate 600 megawatts of electricity.
The existing plant can reach full generation in less than 30 seconds and has capacity for 440 megawatts, which is enough to power more than 90,000 homes.
Ian Kinnaird, director of Scottish assets at Drax, said: "The scale of the proposed development matches Drax’s ambitions when it comes to tackling the climate crisis.
"More than two million tonnes of rock will be excavated to create a new cavern inside the mountain which will be big enough to house Big Ben on its side."
SPECIAL OFFER: Subscribe from £1 for 3 months
Glasgow bank founded by tycoon in licence landmark
A new Scottish bank has hailed a landmark moment as it moves to operation.
Alba, created by tycoon Jim McColl this week secured a licence, allowing it to move into mobilisation.
Pioneering Scottish wave power technology project takes to seas
A £2 million collaborative project to power underwater equipment with wave energy and subsea battery storage has been deployed in the seas off Orkney.
The demonstrator project, named Renewables for Subsea Power, has connected the “Blue X” wave energy converter built by Edinburgh company Mocean Energy with Aberdeen-based intelligent energy management specialist Verlume’s “Halo” underwater battery.
New distillery unveils first single malt Scotch whisky range
A Scottish island's newest distillery has unveiled plans for the launch of its first core range.
Lagg Distillery on the Isle of Arran is to launch its Single Malts range in May following the successful launch of its inaugural batch release last autumn.
Sign up for free: You can now get the briefing sent direct to your email inbox twice-daily, and Business Week for the seven-day round-up on Sunday 👇
Why are you making commenting on HeraldScotland only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel