ARDCHATTAN HYDRO

Ardchattan Hydro Scheme is a 925kW scheme that was built on the river Esragan, near Ardchattan. Being Designed by Campbell of Doune, we were contracted to complete all Civil Engineering aspects of the scheme, which included:

• Constructing the In-River Water Intake, complete with Fish-Pass.
• Constructing the Header Tank and the over-ground pipeline linking it to the Intake Structure.
• Constructing the Secondary Intake and installing pipeline linking it to the Header Tank.
• Constructing the Secondary Intake and installing pipeline linking it to the Header Tank.
• Installing 1350 metres of 800mm diameter ductile iron pipework.
• Construct the semi-buried Powerhouse, complete with Tailrace and Headwall.
• Construct the reinforced concrete Pigging Chamber.

The scheme has been running extremely successfully for the client and it thought to continue to do so for many years. The water is passed through a Gilkes Turgo Turbine, which generates the power for being sent back onto the National Grid.

Ardchattan was particularly challenging due to both the sensitivity of the surrounding area and the size of the river. A lot of the works was carried out within a SSSI area, which meant that we had to be especially aware of plants and trees in the area and protect them at all costs. The river was challenging at the best of times, however the river had a large catchment area. This meant that with even the slightest bit of rain, the river could rise feet in the matter of minutes. We had to be particularly aware of this risk and manage it accordingly.