SSE said it a statement today that the project has restarted, with around 3GWh of electricity already being produced and exported to the transmission network. The restart follows completion of extensive work on the project after its headrace tunnel was blocked in a rockfall in August 2009.
“The work to restore electricity generation at Glendoe has been undertaken in a very rigorous way to make sure that this strategic asset meets its original design criteria and is ready to play its full part in supporting the country’s electricity system for many decades to come,” commented Paul Smith, Managing Director, Generation, at SSE. “We will continue to monitor closely the performance of Glendoe to make sure that the reconstruction work has been fully successful, ensuring sustainable generation at the site, similar to that achieved at our other schemes such as Sloy on Loch Lomond which is still generating power more than 60 years after being commissioned.”
Repair work at the project, near Fort Augustus, included construction of a bypass tunnel around the worst of the rockfall blockage and fault zone in the top half of the 6.2km long headrace blockage area. A second bypass tunnel was constructed around the power cavern to provide access from the downstream side to remove about half of the extensive debris pile, extending more than half a kilometre down the tunnel.
