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Lochaber Hydroelectric Scheme
The Lochaber hydroelectric scheme is a hydroelectric power generation project constructed in the Lochaber area of the western Scottish Highlands after the First World War. Like its predecessor at Kinlochleven, it was intended to provide electricity for aluminium production, this time at Fort William, a little further north. It is still in operation. Construction The scheme was initially designed by engineer Charles Meik but after his death in 1923, the scheme’s realisation was left to William Halcrow, by then a partner in the firm founded by Meik’s father Thomas Meik. The project was finally sanctioned by Parliament in 1921, but construction did not start until 1924. On 30 December 1929, the first aluminium was cast. It took about 95% of the of power generated. It eventually became part of British Aluminium. The scheme harnessed the headwaters of the Rivers Treig and Spean and the floodwaters of the River Spey (plus a further eleven burns along the way). The Laggan Dam ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hydroelectric
Hydroelectricity, or hydroelectric power, is electricity generated from hydropower (water power). Hydropower supplies one sixth of the world's electricity, almost 4500 TWh in 2020, which is more than all other renewable sources combined and also more than nuclear power. Hydropower can provide large amounts of low-carbon electricity on demand, making it a key element for creating secure and clean electricity supply systems. A hydroelectric power station that has a dam and reservoir is a flexible source, since the amount of electricity produced can be increased or decreased in seconds or minutes in response to varying electricity demand. Once a hydroelectric complex is constructed, it produces no direct waste, and almost always emits considerably less greenhouse gas than fossil fuel-powered energy plants. [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Burn (stream)
In local usage, a burn is a kind of watercourse. The term applies to a large stream or a small river. The word is used in Scotland and England (especially North East England) and in parts of Ulster, Australia and New Zealand. Etymology The cognate of ''burn'' in standard English is "bourn", "bourne", "borne", "born", which is retained in placenames like ''Bournemouth'', ''King's Somborne'', ''Holborn'', ''Melbourne''. A cognate in German is ''Born'' (contemp. ''Brunnen''), meaning "well", "spring" or "source", which is retained in placenames like ''Paderborn'' in Germany. Both the English and German words derive from the same Proto-Germanic root. Scots Gaelic has the word ''bùrn'', also cognate, but which means "fresh water"; the actual Gaelic for a "burn" is ''allt'' (sometimes anglicised as "ault" or "auld" in placenames.) Examples *Blackburn *Broxburn * Bucks Burn * Burnside *Braid Burn *Dighty Burn *Burn Dale, East Donegal * Burnfoot, Inishowen *Burn of Elsick *Burn of P ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
SIMEC Group
SIMEC Group Ltd is a British international energy and natural resources business focused on resources, sustainable power, infrastructure, and commodities trading. In 2016 it had an annual turnover of almost USD2.5 billion and net assets of USD350 million. It is part of the Gupta Family Group ("GFG") Alliance, owned by members of the Gupta family, which had a combined turnover of more than USD13 billion and combined net assets of more than USD2.3 billion. Its activities span renewable energy generation, mining, shipping, and commodities trading. The group was founded in 1996 by Parduman K. Gupta, whose son, Sanjeev Gupta, had established Liberty House Group in 1992. Both SIMEC Group and Liberty House Group are independent companies within the GFG Alliance, of which Sanjeev Gupta became executive chairman. SIMEC Group in Australia In 2013, SIMEC Group refocused itself – mainly on to sustainable power, mining and infrastructure. Among many developments since ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rio Tinto Alcan
Rio Tinto Alcan is a subsidiary of Rio Tinto, based in Montreal. It was created on 15 November 2007 as the result of the merger between Rio Tinto's Canadian subsidiary and Canadian company Alcan. It is the global leader of aluminium mining and production, above its one time parent Alcoa (from which it split in 1928), Rusal and some Chinese public companies. History Founded in 1902 as the Canadian unit of Alcoa, it was spun off in 1928. R.E. Powell left Alcoa to become Vice President of the Aluminium Company of Canada (later Alcan) in Montreal, was President from 1937 to 1957 and was then Chancellor of McGill University from 1957 to 1964. Alcan has gone through several name changes: * Northern Aluminum Company Limited – 1902 * Aluminum Company of Canada Limited – 1925 * registers the name Alcan – 1945 * added French name Aluminium du Canada, Limitée – 1965 * introduce the use of the name Alcan Aluminium Limited in English and Alcan Aluminium Limitée 1966; later used ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alcan Lynemouth Aluminium Smelter
The Alcan Lynemouth Aluminium Smelter is a mothballed industrial facility near Ashington, Northumberland, on the coast of North East England, south of the village of Lynemouth. The smelter is owned by the Canadian aluminium company Alcan, which is part of Rio Tinto. The smelter was opened in 1974 at a cost, which exceeded its budgeted estimate of £54 million, of $156 million. The plant ceased production in March 2012. Factors determining the smelter's site A variety of factors determined the smelter's position: *The first was a source of electric power to smelt the aluminium. One tonne of aluminium requires the same amount of electricity that an average family uses in 20 years, so cheap power was needed. In 1972, Alcan commissioned Lynemouth Power Station, less than from the smelter's site, to fulfil its power needs. The station's site was convenient for access to the Ellington and Lynemouth coal mines nearby, which were also the fundamental reason for the nearby village's cr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Anglesey Aluminium
Anglesey Aluminium was a joint venture between Rio Tinto and Kaiser Aluminum. Its aluminium smelter, located on the outskirts of Holyhead, was one of the largest employers in North Wales, with 540 staff members, and began to produce aluminium in 1971. It was built on the Penrhos Estate, 500 acres of which were sold by the Stanley family for the project. Up until its closure it produced up to 142,000 tonnes of aluminium every year and was the biggest single user of electricity (255 MW) in the United Kingdom. Alumina and coke shipped from Jamaica and Australia would berth at the company's private jetty in Holyhead harbour. This jetty is linked by a series of conveyor belts passing through tunnels to the plant. A spur rail link from the main North Wales Coast Line runs into the plant and was used for both receipt of raw materials and despatch of aluminium. The plant was powered from the National Grid and received most of its electricity from Wylfa nuclear power station 15 mile ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Invergordon
Invergordon (; gd, Inbhir Ghòrdain or ) is a town and port in Easter Ross, in Ross and Cromarty, Highland (council area), Highland, Scotland. It lies in the parish of Rosskeen. History The town built up around the harbour which was established in 1828. The area became a police burgh in 1863 and Invergordon Town Hall was completed in 1871. The Invergordon Grain Distillery, operated by Philippines-owned whisky giant Whyte & Mackay, was established in 1959. Connected to the distillery was the Invergordon Distillery Pipe Band which was formed in 1964. In 1971, the British Aluminium Company, which was 47% owned by Reynolds Metals, opened an aluminum smelter at Invergordon. Naval Base The naval institute was designed in 1914 by Edinburgh architect Stewart Kaye in anticipation of the First World War. The naval base was the venue for the Invergordon Mutiny of 1931. Remains of the naval base are evidenced in the tank farm lying behind the town centre; the port used to contain fuel o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Smelting
Smelting is a process of applying heat to ore, to extract a base metal. It is a form of extractive metallurgy. It is used to extract many metals from their ores, including silver, iron, copper, and other base metals. Smelting uses heat and a chemical reducing agent to decompose the ore, driving off other elements as gases or slag and leaving the metal base behind. The reducing agent is commonly a fossil fuel source of carbon, such as coke—or, in earlier times, charcoal. The oxygen in the ore binds to carbon at high temperatures due to the lower potential energy of the bonds in carbon dioxide (). Smelting most prominently takes place in a blast furnace to produce pig iron, which is converted into steel. The carbon source acts as a chemical reactant to remove oxygen from the ore, yielding the purified metal element as a product. The carbon source is oxidized in two stages. First, the carbon (C) combusts with oxygen (O2) in the air to produce carbon monoxide (CO). Second, the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Turbine
A turbine ( or ) (from the Greek , ''tyrbē'', or Latin ''turbo'', meaning vortex) is a rotary mechanical device that extracts energy from a fluid flow and converts it into useful work. The work produced by a turbine can be used for generating electrical power when combined with a generator.Munson, Bruce Roy, T. H. Okiishi, and Wade W. Huebsch. "Turbomachines." Fundamentals of Fluid Mechanics. 6th ed. Hoboken, NJ: J. Wiley & Sons, 2009. Print. A turbine is a turbomachine with at least one moving part called a rotor assembly, which is a shaft or drum with blades attached. Moving fluid acts on the blades so that they move and impart rotational energy to the rotor. Early turbine examples are windmills and waterwheels. Gas, steam, and water turbines have a casing around the blades that contains and controls the working fluid. Credit for invention of the steam turbine is given both to Anglo-Irish engineer Sir Charles Parsons (1854–1931) for invention of the reaction turbine, and to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Penstock
A penstock is a sluice or gate or intake structure that controls water flow, or an enclosed pipe that delivers water to hydro turbines and sewerage systems. The term is inherited from the earlier technology of mill ponds and watermills. Hydroelectric systems and dams Penstocks for hydroelectric installations are normally equipped with a gate system and a surge tank. They can be a combination of many components such as anchor block, drain valve, air bleed valve, and support piers depending on the application. Flow is regulated by turbine operation and is nil when turbines are not in service. Penstocks, particularly where used in polluted water systems, need to be maintained by hot water washing, manual cleaning, antifouling coatings, and desiccation. The term is also used in irrigation dams to refer to the channels leading to and from high-pressure sluice gates. Penstocks are also used in mine tailings dam construction. The penstock is usually situated fairly close to the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ben Nevis
Ben Nevis ( ; gd, Beinn Nibheis ) is the highest mountain in Scotland Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ..., the United Kingdom and the British Isles. The summit is above sea level and is the highest land in any direction for . Ben Nevis stands at the western end of the Grampian Mountains (Scotland), Grampian Mountains in the Scottish Highlands, Highland region of Lochaber, close to the town of Fort William, Highland, Fort William. The mountain is a popular destination, attracting an estimated 130,000 ascents a year, around three-quarters of which use the Mountain Track from Glen Nevis. The cliffs of the north face are among the highest in Scotland, providing classic scrambling, scrambles and rock climbing, rock climbs of all difficulties for climbers and mountain ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Loch Treig
Loch Treig is a 9 km freshwater loch situated in a steep-sided glen 20 km east of Fort William, Scotland, Fort William, in Lochaber, Highland (council area), Highland, Scotland. While there are no roads alongside the loch, the West Highland Line follows its eastern bank. Since 1929 Loch Treig has been a reservoir (water), reservoir, retained behind the Treig Dam, forming part of the Lochaber hydro-electric scheme, which required diversion of the West Highland Railway. The increase in water level following the construction of the dam submerged the hamlets of Kinlochtreig and Creaguaineach at the loch's southern end, which were stopping points on a cattle drovers' road along the Road to the Isles, which linked up Lochaber and the Inner Hebrides to markets in Perthshire in the south. See also *List of reservoirs and dams in the United Kingdom References Lochs of Highland (council area), Treig Reservoirs in Highland (council area), Treig Lochaber Freshwater ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
