Locogen has successfully commissioned the 500kW Ben Mor hydro project in Achiltibuie, Scottish Highlands.
The Ben Mor hydro project was originally owned by Coigach Community Group and Scottish Wildlife Trust who developed the project to the point of obtaining planning and abstraction permissions and a grid connection offer. Locogen were employed to project manage the construction of the project in early 2015 and then acquired the scheme in December 2015 after the development risk became too high for the previous owners. The Coigach Community Group, Scottish Wildlife Trust and landowner have benefited from retaining an interest in the project going forward.
Locogen have since funded the entire development and project managed the construction of the scheme during 2016. Locogen overcame a number of challenges associated with the project and successfully secured additional grid capacity, resolved outstanding property agreements and obtained the required land court approvals.
The scheme is a typical ‘run-of-river’ hydro scheme consisting of a Coanda screened intake, 2.5km buried penstock and Gilkes pelton turbine contained within a larch cladded powerhouse. This is a particularly high head scheme with a gross head of 302m and a rated flow of 205l/s, which delivers 500kW electrical output. The turbine was successfully commissioned in December 2016 and is expected to generate 1,450MWh of electricity annually.