Eilan Reach Micro Hydro Scheme

This year we commissioned a new hydro scheme.   New micro hydro installations at this scale are not as frequent as they used to be.   However on this site, there was a suitable burn, a good location, good energy usage, and a willing & positive customer!
 
The Feasibility Study in 2022 identified a suitable intake location up above a small forestry block, beyond the main gate out onto the hill.   It would require a tricky bit of navigation into the side of the burn to reach the dam and a challenging pipe track out, but it was the best site.
 
Before we could begin work though, the old Estate access bridge from the farm into the lower fields was in need of some TLC, the Client was looking to have this repaired anyway and asked if we could help.    Closer inspection suggested that it was in need of more than TLC, so whilst hydro design was progressing we carried out a bit of a refurbishment to the bridge.
 
One of the key enablers for this hydro was to be able to use the power across the Estate.    The SSEN team in this part of the Highlands are well used to our “innovative” energy systems and worked with us to deliver a slightly novel approach that including the Estate adopting some of the existing underground service cables, and a new Meter Point.    This meant that where ever power was being used in the buildings on the Estate, if there was hydropower available, it would be utilised first. 
 
Having such a high load factor for the renewable energy meant that the offset of purchasing electricity provided a firm financial basis on which to proceed.
 
An unexpected bonus for the Client was in the set up of the new electricity supply meter.  Not many folk have heard of “Split Phase” but its common remoter parts of the Highlands, where local consumers need more power – in simple terms, a second power line is brought into the property and another meter (in the old days).     This was the case for the Estate at Eilan Reach and with the trials and tribulations of new power supplies afflicting most of the Highlands only one supplier would offer a contract, at an exuberant rate.   However what they forgot, was that their SEG rate was nearly 30p, and not realising the power generating potential of a micro hydro on the West Coast of Scotland, the Client has more than recouped their metering outlays, as well as providing a good return for the first year.