Awe Hydro-Electric Scheme

The North of Scotland Hydro-Electric Board was created by the Hydro-electric Development (Scotland) Act 1943, a measure championed by the politician Tom Johnston while he was Secretary of State for Scotland. Johnston's vision was for a public body that could build hydro-electric stations throughout the Highlands. Profits made by selling bulk electricity to the Scottish lowlands would be used to fund "the economic development and social improvement of the North of Scotland." Private consumers would be offered a supply of cheap electricity, and their connection to that supply would not reflect the actual cost of its provision in remote and sparsely populated areas. Sir Edward MacColl, the…

Nant was the smallest of the stations, with an installed capacity of 15 MW. It has a head of 564 ft, taking its water supply from Loch Nant and discharging into Loch Awe. The station is located underground, accessed by a tunnel that starts near to the start of the overhead transmission lines. In common with many of the schemes that the Board built, the natural catchment of Loch Nant was supplemented by capturing the headwaters of the Abhainn Fionain and its tributaries. Aqueducts feed this additional flow into the tunnel to the power station, rather than into the loch. The capacity of Loch Nant was increased by the construction of a mass gravity dam which prevents the extra water from…