You’re invited – come and learn about the Cruachan Expansion
By Sarah Cameron, Drax’s Scotland Community Manager
Cruachan Power Station sits in an area of natural beauty – in the highlands of Scotland’s west coast. On the northern shores of Loch Awe, Cruachan is ideally situated to strengthen Scotland’s energy security.
I’m from a small village called Taynuilt in the west of Scotland. It’s very close to Cruachan Power Station, a plant that has the ability to power almost a million homes – far more than the 50,000 in the local region of Argyll and Bute alone!
Cruachan is a major local landmark. I can remember visiting with my local Brownies group when I was a child – it’s one of those places that you don’t forget visiting! Growing up, some of my friend’s parents worked in the power station, and now those friends work there too. I’m proud to also work there, for Drax, the company that owns Cruachan, as the Community Manager for Scotland. My role is all about building relationships in the local community and working to support the people and the area.
Cruachan Power Station is turning 60 next year – a remarkable milestone. It has achieved a great deal over the past six decades, but as the power system modernises it’s important Cruachan continues to evolve.
Drax has transformative plans for Cruachan. We’re investing £80m to boost the plants power output by 40 MWs over the next 3 years. To put that into perspective, 1MW is the amount of energy needed to toast 89,000 pieces of bread! So, you can imagine the scale of this project.
But that’s just the tip of the iceberg. Between now and 2030 we want to build a second underground power station at Cruachan, doubling the amount of power it can provide to the grid to over a gigawatt – that’s enough to power 2 million homes! This is the equivalent of powering 100 million LED lightbulbs or the capacity of 294 onshore wind turbines.
Once given the go-ahead the project is set to cost £500 million and will support 150 jobs in Argyll and Bute, as well as over 1,000 across our network of UK suppliers.
The expansion will also benefit the UK energy grid by providing ‘back up’ for wind and solar energy sources that only provide power when the wind blows or the sun shines. And when there’s too much wind and solar energy being produced the power station acts like a huge water battery, storing it so it doesn’t go to waste.
Drax has already kicked off preparations, having recently appointed Voith Hydro to complete a Front-End Engineering and Design (FEED) study for the mechanical and electrical components of the Cruachan Expansion design. It’s an important milestone for the project which will see top engineers enhance the design of the new station.
It’s an exciting time to be a part of Drax and the local community in Argyll.
As we continue to make progress on the expansion project, we want to keep our local community updated on all that’s happening at Cruachan. We’re hosting an event at the Argyllshire Gathering Halls in Oban on Wednesday 11 September for community members, local businesses and prospective suppliers. You are welcome to register to join us and learn more about the expansion project, the benefits it will deliver for the region, and meet our engineers.
You can find out more and book a ticket here. I hope to see you there!
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