![Clatteringshaws Dam](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/97/Clatteringshaws_Dam.jpg)
The Galloway hydro-electric power scheme is a network of dams and
hydro-electric
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 an ...
power station
A power station, also referred to as a power plant and sometimes generating station or generating plant, is an industrial facility for the generation of electric power. Power stations are generally connected to an electrical grid.
Many ...
s in
Galloway
Galloway ( ; sco, Gallowa; la, Gallovidia) is a region in southwestern Scotland comprising the historic counties of Wigtownshire and Kirkcudbrightshire. It is administered as part of the council area of Dumfries and Galloway.
A native or ...
, south west
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 ...
. It was built between 1930 and 1936.
The generating stations draw water from the
River Ken,
River Dee and
River Doon
The River Doon ( gd, Abhainn Dhùin, ) is a river in Ayrshire, Scotland. Its course is generally north-westerly, passing near to the town of Dalmellington, and through the villages of Patna, Dalrymple, and Alloway, birthplace of Robert Burns. ...
through reservoirs at
Loch Doon
Loch Doon ( gd, Loch Dùin, ) is a freshwater loch in Carrick, Scotland. The River Doon issues from its northern end, while the loch itself receives waters from Gala Lane and Loch Enoch (in the Galloway Hills) via Eglin Lane.
History
In the ...
, Kendoon, Carsfad,
Clatteringshaws, and
Tongland
Tongland is a small village about north of Kirkcudbright, in the historic county of Kirkcudbrightshire in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland. It lies on the west bank of the Dee near its confluence with the Tarff Water.
History
Tonglan ...
. The unusual
modernist
Modernism is both a philosophy, philosophical and arts movement that arose from broad transformations in Western world, Western society during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The movement reflected a desire for the creation of new fo ...
stations were designed by Scottish civil engineer,
Sir Alexander Gibb
''Sir'' is a formal honorific address in English for men, derived from Sire in the High Middle Ages. Both are derived from the old French "Sieur" (Lord), brought to England by the French-speaking Normans, and which now exist in French only as ...
.
The scheme, which is today operated by
Drax, can produce a total peak power of around 106
megawatts
The watt (symbol: W) is the unit of power or radiant flux in the International System of Units (SI), equal to 1 joule per second or 1 kg⋅m2⋅s−3. It is used to quantify the rate of energy transfer. The watt is named after James Wat ...
.
History
The scheme was authorized by the Galloway Water Power Act on 10 May 1929, by which the Galloway Water Power Company was incorporated. Chairman of the board was former colonial administrator
Lord Meston. Also on the board was
Robert Brand
Robert Henry Brand, 1st Baron Brand, (30 October 1878 – 23 August 1963) was a British civil servant and businessman.
Early life
Brand was born on 30 October 1878. He was the fourth son of the former Susan Henrietta Cavendish and Henry Brand, ...
, managing director of the project's underwriter,
Lazard Brothers and Company.
Design was carried out by civil engineers Sir Alexander Gibb and Partners
along with electrical engineer,
William McLellan of
Merz & McLellan
Merz and McLellan was a leading British electrical engineering consultancy based in Newcastle.
History
The firm was founded by Charles Merz and William McLellan in Newcastle upon Tyne in 1902 when McLellan joined Merz's existing firm establishe ...
. Construction began three years later in 1932 and was completed in 1936. The scheme was made viable by the recent formation of the
National Grid which made generation of electricity in remote areas useful. Hydro power was particularly helpful to this grid because of its ability to be turned on and off very quickly to meet peak demands (in contrast to oil and coal stations), and to meet the natural increase during the more energy demanding winter months.
The total cost of the scheme was around three million pounds. At a cost of £29 per kilowatt of installed capacity, they were some of the least costly stations ever built in the UK.
The scheme was extended in 1984 with the addition of the Drumjohn power station which made use of the existing needle valve where the water from Loch Doon and the Deuch feed into the Dee. This station has a capacity of just 2.3 megawatts, but was constructed largely using existing infrastructure.
In 2018
Drax Group
Drax Group PLC is a power generation business. The principal downstream enterprises are based in the UK and include Drax Power Limited, which runs a biomass and coal fueled power station, Drax power station, near Selby in North Yorkshire. The G ...
purchased the scheme, alongside a number of other assets, from then owners
Scottish Power
Scottish Power is a vertically integrated energy company based in Glasgow, Scotland. It is a subsidiary of Spanish utility firm Iberdrola.
ScottishPower is the distribution network operator for Central and Southern Scotland, Merseyside, Nor ...
.
Architecture
![Tonglandturbinehall](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/95/Tonglandturbinehall.jpg)
The stations are generally white, Modernist structures, highly glazed and with large airy turbine halls. The designs were stylistically advanced for their time and can be viewed as some of Scotland's earliest modern buildings. The credit for the design is given to
Alexander Gibb and Partners, however it seems likely that the design received input from
H. O. Tarbolton, the architectural advisor to the scheme's "Amenities Committee". This committee was set up to "make to the Company such recommendations as they may think are reasonable and proper for the preservation of the beauty of the scenery" (from the 1929 Galloway water power act). Tarbolton was designer of the Pitlochry power station which bears some striking similarities to the Galloway turbine halls. Whilst no direct credit for the design work can be given to him, it is unlikely that he had no influence on the outcome.
In their book ''Power from water'' (1960), two partners of Alexander Gibb and Partners, A.O.L. Paton, and J Guthrie Brown (the latter of whom is known to have worked on the Galloway scheme), write that "The architecture of the power stations, under the watchful eye of the amenity committee...was given the most careful attention."
Parts of the scheme are now listed buildings, specifically the Glenlee Power Station and Bridge
and the Tongland Power Station, Surge Tower and Valve House.
In great contrast to the bright pristine nature of the stations, the dams are organic and entwined with the natural rock. They are generally
arch dam
An arch dam is a concrete dam that is curved upstream in plan. The arch dam is designed so that the force of the water against it, known as hydrostatic pressure, presses against the arch, causing the arch to straighten slightly and strengthe ...
s, curved in plan, bearing onto the side walls of the valleys except in those dams where only one side of the valley is suitable for bearing. In these latter cases, the end of the dam straightens out, and the last section of
gravity dam (where the weight of the dam itself resists the force of the water) then acts like a
buttress
A buttress is an architectural structure built against or projecting from a wall which serves to support or reinforce the wall. Buttresses are fairly common on more ancient buildings, as a means of providing support to act against the lateral ( ...
to the more efficient arch dam.
Perceptions of the scheme
Today the dams are well liked and a source of pride to the people of Galloway and of course are still generating environmentally friendly electricity. However they were not universally admired when they were first built, as local poet W.G.M. Dobie wrote:
[Hill (1989), p.52.]
A raider comes today who kills
The glories of our glens and hills
With unheroic acts and bills
and "Private Legislation"
The Company promoters pen
Will Dam the Deugh and dam the Ken
and Dam the Dee - oh Dam the men
Who Plan such desecration!
Generating stations
The six generating stations, from north to south, are:
References
Notes
Sources
* Hill, George (1984). ''Tunnel and Dam: The Story of the Galloway Hydros''. South of Scotland Electricity Board.
External links
Visit Tongland Power Station- Drax Power
An account of the Galloway Scheme from 1937
{{Scottish energy
Hydroelectric power stations in Scotland
Buildings and structures in Dumfries and Galloway
Economy of Dumfries and Galloway
Galloway
1930s establishments in Scotland
Category A listed buildings in Dumfries and Galloway