HYDROPOWER

HYDRO

HYDROPOWER
THE BASICS
 The energy of flowing water can be captured and
converted into electricity by using turbines and
generators. This is known as hydro-electric power,
or hydropower. Scotland has harnessed the power
of water in this way since the country’s first hydro-
electric scheme at Fort Augustus, at the west end of
Loch Ness, in 1890.
Hydropower is considered a renewable energy
because the fuel supply – water – is not exhausted
but simply part of a constant cycle by which the
water evaporates from lakes and oceans, forms
clouds, and falls as rain or snow for the cycle
to continue.

As a renewable energy, hydropower makes a

significant contribution to Scotland, which is home
to 1.5 gigawatts of hydropower capacity, or enough
to power the equivalent of more than 900,000
homes. A 2009 study estimated that there are
still over 1.2 gigawatts of financially viable hydro
resources left in the country.1

HYDROPOWER SCHEMES
GENERATED THE
EQUIVALENT OF 12.5% OF
ELECTRICITY CONSUMED
IN SCOTLAND IN 2012.2 Copyright The hydro-electric dam at Loch Monar

The majority of Scotland’s hydropower capacity
was built in the mid-20th century , driven by the
‘Power from the Glens’ campaign initiated by Tom
Johnston, the Secretary of State for Scotland.
Johnston pushed through the Hydro-Electric
3
Development (Scotland) Act, which was passed in
1943 and thus founded the North of Scotland Hydro
Electric Board (NoSHEB).

1 The Employment Potential of Scotland’s Hydro Resource, N Forrest and J Wallace, 2009:
http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Resource/Doc/299322/0093327.pdf
2 Estimate calculated from Scottish Government (http://www.scotland.gov.uk/SESO/DatasetSearch.aspx?TID=132) and UK Government (https://www.gov.uk/government/
uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/172946/et6_1.xls) statistics.
3 However, the first large-scale hydro-electric scheme came into operation in 1930. This development, at Rannoch and Tummel Bridge in Perthshire, was built by the Grampian
Electricity Supply Company. To this day, it still supplies electricity to the grid.

SCOTTISH RENEWABLES HYDROPOWER THE BASICS


Copyright Cruachan hydro-electric power station
The hydro-electric schemes built in the 1940s,
50s and 60s still generate renewable power today
and are complemented by a growing number of
smaller-scale hydro developments.
These small-scale local and community hydro
schemes have benefitted from the introduction of
the Feed-in Tariff, a financial incentive for installing
smaller scale renewables projects. At present
Scotland has 161 megawatts of installed capacity
of smaller scale hydro, although 76 megawatts
are either consented or in planning . With respect
to community energy projects, there are currently
five projects in Scotland with an installed capacity
of 0.68 megawatts, but 30 more are in the
development pipeline (with a total installed capacity
of 7.55 megawatts) . 5
There are also plans to increase Scotland’s
installed capacity of large-scale hydro, namely
SSE’s proposed new 600-megawatt pumped storage
hydro scheme at Coire Glas in the Highlands. A
pumped storage scheme is an important asset to
any country’s energy portfolio – in essence, it is a
battery which can store large amounts of energy
when demand is low, to be used when required6.
4 Accurate to April 2013.
5 Statistics provided by Community Energy Scotland, accurate to April 2013.
6 Pumped storage schemes involve two bodies of water at different heights. During periods of low demand for power, electricity is used to pump water from the lower loch to the
upper reservoir. The water is released to create energy at a time when demand is high. See the SSE website for further information on pumped storage and the Coire Glas
hydro scheme: http://www.sse.com/CoireGlas/ProjectInformation/
7 See the Scottish Renewables website:
http://www.scottishrenewables.com/scottish-renewable-energy-statistics-glance/#table1
Scotland has a long hydro heritage and significant
experience of developing hydro projects. Despite
the high construction costs associated with hydro
developments, from an investor’s perspective
hydro-electric schemes remain attractive because
of their long operating lives. However, like any other
technology with high capital costs, hydro is subject
to market and regulatory uncertainty, which means
that a stable legislative and regulatory environment
is important to the future development of hydro
in Scotland.
HYDRO INVESTMENT IN SCOTLAND IN
2012 WAS ESTIMATED TO BE MORE THAN
£25 MILLION7.
Scottish renewables estimated that in 2012 there
were over 500 direct jobs in hydro in scotland,
with hundreds more involved in supply chain
activities such as construction, grid upgrades and
consultancy.
Hydro-electric power enjoys very favourable
4
public acceptance in Scotland. According to a 2013
YouGov poll for Scottish Renewables, some 80 per
cent of people asked said they would support the
development of a large-scale hydro project being
built in their local council area. Acceptance of hydro
in Scotland is therefore higher than for any other
energy source.
In the short term, the development of small and
medium-sized projects in particular looks set to
continue, as Scotland builds on its impressive hydro
heritage. This continued deployment of hydropower
will not only allow Scotland to meet climate change
targets and reduce carbon emissions, but also
represents a real opportunity to generate a secure
supply of electricity for homes and businesses for
many years to come.
3
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