The irony is that today Scotland produces over 100% of renewable energy for its own needs and exports vast amounts to England.... yet pays the highest energy prices in Europe..........
Renewable does not mean cheaper, cleaner, easier, or anything else people associate with it. Oil is not renewable so at SOME POINT it will be a problem. Thats what they are addressing.
Thank you for sharing pal that was a nice read, you’re old man is a legend I drive through the Clyde tunnel often✌️🏴 just annoying it cuts the radio off due to the signal 😂😂
Very proud that my father was one of the team of consultant engineers who designed Cruachan and he in fact cut the first sod that inaugurated the start of the project. His name was Allan Ferrie,he was a partner in the firm of James Williamson and partners ,consultant engineers,based in Glasgow.They were responsible for many other hydroelectric projects principally in Scotland and Wales. Margaret Faulds.
Do you think for one second that we would let water run out , NO 1 , Its Scotland so it rains a lot , NO 2 , Distilleries need it for our whisky ( can you imagine no whisky it would be an epic tradgedy ) NO 3 , The Haggis need to drink and keep hydrated in summer. 👌🏴🥃🐾
Ripped off with coal, ripped off with oil and gas, now ripped off with energy,,, Westmister also considering piping water from Scotland to England!!...nothing to see here,, BAU...
Eh it’s already happening. My dad’s best friend delivered the water pipes in the 1970’s . The pipes are big enough to stand inside them. This employer had the contract to deliver all the water pipes. They start around the border of Scotland & England & bridge the gap between the Scottish & English water systems. They are the reason that sometimes we have hosepipe bans from time to time. Scotland always has enough fresh water for our needs, it was only once our water supply was connected to Englands that they started telling us that there could be shortages. If you have been anywhere in England & they have soft water, it’s not their natural supply because England water is all hard not soft water.
Makes total sense. The wind might not blow, the sun might not shine, but one thing is assured in the British Isles ... it's going to rain ! Thank you for covering my beloved Islands 👊
@Thurgosh_OG you my friend are deluded WE are Scots . Was bever part of your BRITTISH isles England ,Ireland Wales SCOTLAND where is your country called brittain , now Bri ton , Breton maybe NOT BRITTAIN a misnomer .
Ahem!!!!! A hugh amount of UK energy is purchaesd from Qatar, France and Norway. Also there are energy producers who add their profit margin, then for no reason at all there are the energy retail companies who also add on their profit margin, so we pay middle men for nothing.......
The wholesale price of electricity over the last year has been below 12 pence per kwh so the mark up is huge, at least 100%. The government sets the price cap via ofgem based on the price of gas generated electricity, even through gas is the most expensive electricity. Most electricity is generated from nuclear and wind. So the cap is always well above the wholesale price. The electricity companies have to pay the government a percentage of this inflated profit. So when we pay our electricity bills we're actually paying tax, oh and don't forget the additional 5% vat we pay on the bill that including that tax, so here in the UK even our tax is taxed.
@@ianjohnston9325 The joys of living in a fading 1st world state. 3rd rate govt administrators figuring out new ways to find tax revenue to pay their salaries, pensions and justify their existence. the problem multiplied with a 4 fold increase in university graduates expecting the other 60% to prop up their pyramid scheme. I shudda moved to a smaller island a looooong time ago
@@BlackBuck777 The two in Fergusons were a complicated LNG design which nobody but the greens wanted. If they get the small ferry replacement contract they'll rattle through them
I don't know about most xD But Scotland certainly has about 5x as much engineering marvel density, and inventions and even contributions to the arts, per capita than anywhere else. So you're not far off.
Scotland produces enough electricity to not only power Scotland but the North of England too. The amount of energy sold outside Scotland is more than enough to pay for production meaning we could provide free energy for everyone in Scotland for….. FREE!!!!
Power companies produce the power, you had nothing to do with it, did you buy share in these companies? Scotland produces whisky should that be free or cheaper?
In Australia we are trying a similar setup called Snowy 2.0 but the tunneling machines are stuck due to geological collapses. Now on hold for well over a year and costs are mounting while they work out how to save this project.
Its a shame. I had worked on PHS R&D and the Snowy mountian complex looked sort of promising, but the sinkholes and roof falls have created problems which should have been taken seriously much earlier. Still, every hydro project teeters on the brink of failure, then it remains for decades just giving.
Scotland's high energy prices could be attributed to policy decisions, including taxation, levies for renewable energy subsidies, and grid charges. These are set at a UK-wide level, not specifically by Scotland. Rather than focusing on production/export, addressing regulatory reforms might be more effective for lowering costs.
I went on the tour many years ago. It was breathtakingly awesome. I had never before or since been in such a vast cavernous space. What did freak me out was when our driver turned his vehicle to face the way we came in before we got out of it - in case we had to make a hasty departure!
Turning around before parking is perfectly normal emergency preparedness for any underground workings. Other underground power stations I've worked in or visited do exactly the same.
In 1603 James VI (1st of England) jimmy sax we call him.. took a lump of coal south to London when he took the English throne.. to show them how we do energy in Scotland.. 1603.
Apparently one of the Rumanian Princes who along with the rest of European nobility converged in London and england after the battle of waterloo wrote an extensive description of the black stones which the english put in fires that burns much hotter and for longer than wood. By 1815 there were still many places who had never heard of even the concept of coal. Did'nt know that about Jimmy 6
Some years ago a friend was working at the Cruachan plant testing equipment, the plant was not working when a power plant in east Scotland failed in service. They soon had phone call asking if they could start generating, which they did. I took a tour many years ago when on holiday in Scotland
There is already a pumped storage facility at Loch Ness, namely the Foyers one which is a 300Mw system completed in 1974, initially built to make use of the excess capacity of the Hunterston B nuclear power plant. I think the proposed new 450Mw plant is towards the other end of the loch, but I could be wrong here, I haven't checked on a map and it's over twenty five years since I visited the Foyers site and control room.
The image of the generator hall at 7:54 is reversed for some reason. The name plate on the second generator gives it away. It should read ABB (Asea Brown Boveri), the Swiss electrical products company formed by the merger of ASEA of Sweden and BBC of Switzerland.
The demand surges during TV sports are not unique to the UK, nor is it new. We experienced this at NY Telephone 50 years ago, during Super Bowl breaks. A crossbar or step-by-step central office, normally a deafening roar of hundreds of clacking switches, would practically go silent while the game was on.
Fun fact, The Cruachan Dam is built along the Pass of Brander, Site of one of Scotland's most important Battles, If Bruce had lost at Brander, Bannockburn wouldn't have happened.
In the UK we know this as the ad break spike. When millions of people are watching something, say England in a World Cup finals match the ad break comes at half time after 45 minutes of play. At this point everyone goes into the kitchen and sticks the kettle on, not literally, to make a cuppa. Most UK kettles are over 2 kilowatts, for context.
@@lewisisdaman Yeah the weapons of mass destruction are stored in the hills, But it’s what is inside the hill that makes it so special & not many people know about it. This is the reason why it’s nearly impossible to build it anywhere else in the UK. If Scotland gained independence that would be one hell of a headache for Parliament. To move it to somewhere similar would probably take 30 to 40 years & cost over £200 billion.
@@disco1969 Well…..it’s something like science fiction or something you would see in a Bond movie..”The Spy Who Loved Me” or “Indian Jones Raiders of the Lost Ark” are some good clues for you! .
I delivered the breaker switches for this power station…… i had to drive down the 13ft 3ins black cave in my truck and deliver these huge breaker switches into a trapdoor above my truck! I know where I’m going in a nuclear war! Lolol and I can confirm it is warm!
The dam is hugely impressive, and you can walk right to it, and on it. Ben Cruachan is a fantastic mountain to hike, quite rocky, but not too challenging. And the rock there is brilliant for walking/scrambling, you stick to it like a gecko. Summer, i.e. no ice that is. I had an absolutely mind-blowing clowd inversion there a couple of weeks ago. Just a sea of clowds all around and just the highest peaks sticking out. Highly recommended.
thank you very much for these videos. Love the info and the way you present and deliver the content. the edits and animations, and such are a lot of fun too. thanks for the extra...
In New Zealand, there is also a subterranean power station. It is at Manapōuri. The water flows from Lake Manapōuri to a power station built 200 metres underground, then continues flowing out tailrace tunnels into the ocean at Deep Cove which is situated in Doubtful Sound in Fiordland on the south islands West Coast. Manapōuri power station is located in Fiordland National Park, on the South Island of New Zealand. It has seven 128-megawatt generating units, and an operating maximum station output limited to 800 megawatts. Manapōuri generates enough electricity for about 619,000 average New Zealand homes.
@@nigelswindles1129 yeah, there was a dedicated power line built just for it, but just recently there has been an upgrade of the power lines heading north away from the substation in Invercargill. This is to mitigate the fact Tiwai will one day reach its life term, and the power can be re-directed to the national grid.
You can just into the countryside with a shovel and dig a hole. But if you want a system which takes of all that refuse away and disposes it for you, then you have to pay for it, not unless you're part of the parasite class that don't do anything other than whinge.
Because 'most' working and self employed people don't want it. Scotland has a very large parasitic benefit class that don't work because of their 'supposed' mental health problems, we also have another group that are so morbidly obese that they're deemed physically disabled, on top of that have more heroin junkies than England. It's this parasite class that want's independence.
Pish ma man pish. Give us back our donations to 2012 Olympics, Cross rail, HS2. This is how it works, all Scotlands taxes go to the Exchequer, 1/3 to Scotland, 1/3 for Scottish projects but decided by Westminster and 1/3 subsidises UK project guess who get that? Who was it said in 2014 that the only way Scotland could stay in Europe was to remain in the Union? And where are we now? England rules, a union of equals my arse. A colony we are and a colony we remain.Times coming if we only live to see it. It's not England's people we moan at it is Westminster. Let us go.@wayn3h
We have the same type of system in Missouri at Tom Salk power plant except it is all on the surface of our mountain. And the dam is a full 360 degrees around instead of damming a valley. It was built about the same time in the fifties.
If the mural is fabricated from wood, plastic and gold leaf then it’s not a fresco; it’s a “bas relief”. A “fresco” is rendered in water based paint applied to fresh damp plaster.
The spikes in electricity demand coinciding with commercial breaks (or, as we call them on this side the pond, the adverts) is absolutely true and something you didn't mention is that the control rooms of peaker-plants have televisions showing live broadcasts so that they can spool up the turbines at the appropriate moment.
I love the concept! We went from hunters gatherers living in caves, to massive civilizations marring the surface of the earth, and back to relying on the benefits of earthen structures to conceal massive eye sores. Let's hope that in the future, we collectively revert to subterranean civilizations like the: Elloras caves, Mogao caves, Coober Pedy mines, Meza Verde, Derinkuyu city and our metropolitan underground malls that are so popular in Canada. Be it the dwarves of European mythology and Tolkien fame, or the Morlocks in the Time Machine, humans seem to be destined to dwell within the earth, not upon it
The Lock Ness hydro projects could be a problem, there have been concerns raised already around the water levels dropping, and apparently there are two new hydro plants planned, further reducing the water levels of loch ness and endangering wildlife.
That is true. However, also true is that when the water is pumped elsewhere, so that it can be used to create electricity, it is no longer in Loch Ness. That fact and that it was in an environmental report where it stated my concern.
Pumped Storage Facility. Check out the TVA Raccoon Mountain facility just East of Chatanooga, TN. The road into the generator hall can accomodate an entire tractor trailer rig.
Went on the tour around 2000. it's a feat of engineering, yes and it is around 18°C, they even have plants growing in parts lit by daylight spectrum lamps, very interesting and huge, video can not reflect the shear size. Gaz UK
Years ago, I was involved with the Dinorwic power plant project, and thanks for promoting the British ingenuity from years ago. Hopefully more will come in these crazy times of so-called “net zero” instead of the money wasted on wind generation and solar panels, which are far from ecological.
The fact you were involved in an energy capture project that suits and supports green energy, yet you still do not understand how the diversity of energy production is ESSENTIAL to Great Britain becoming self sufficient and sustainable is tragic. Stop bleating when your dog whistle influencers expect you too. Slow down, step back and actually think about it. Read more than the headlines and listen to sources outside of what social media promotes.
@@jedfra9172I think what they were saying is that the older wind turbines & solar panels were very inefficient. The older wind turbines were so inefficient they could barely produce enough energy to light the visitor centre never mind much else. One of the most efficient renewable energy is wave power as the sea never takes a day off. You can’t blame someone for knowing how inefficient the technology was as they worked within that sector.
Rubbish again you people never read widely one of Australia's states that I am unable to think of has worked out how to recycle every bit of a solar panel
This is a load of waffle. It is a pumped storage facility. It uses overnight surplus electricity to pump water up to the reservoir. It is stored, until there is a peak demand, for electricity, it has only a short delivery time. The $64,000 question is 100,000 homes, or Edinburgh city, for how long?
Drax Group plc acquired the Cruachan Power Station at a cost of £702m. I used to own my last house before I sold, I have no right to it now, simple as that.
Crew - a - con? ... Love it. It's pronounced Crew -a- chan ('ch' sounds as in loch). Never mind: Right at the end, the bloke doing the voiceover proves he can't say loch either. It was built because nuclear power plants take ages to ramp up and slow down. Cruachan enables nuclear power stations to produce at a steady rate while taking care of peaks and troughs in demand. It's now being used to try to do the same thing with wind power because the 'green' lobby has stuffed nuclear power. Unfortunately, supposedly environmentally friendly wind turbines actually produce more greenhouse gases per kilowatt/hour of electricity generated than nuclear stations because wind turbines are so grossly inefficient and use huge amounts of steel and concrete in their construction. The electricity they produce is entirely unreliable (when the wind don't blow, the turbines don't go and the leccy don't flow) and hugely expensive, which is why we pay a fortune for electricity in the UK. Time to give the 'green' lobby a good kicking, don't you think?
Just to say (last time i was there) there is a mini-bus that takes you down the road into the powerplant so visitors don't need to walk in. Great video. When you visit you think Bond movies and bases inside volcanos - especially since it has a 60's feel about the design.
Have climbed Ben Cruachan at least 4 times and the rest of the peaks above the dam and done the tour of the power station. Views from summit are glorious across to the Isle of Mull etc.
Thats why the folk of Scotland went to get a beer to celebrate the home nation. Well done Germany and Spain😂. All energy from Scotland that benefits the Westminster Establishment to no benefit to the people of Scotland. Scotland is a colony of England
''All energy from Scotland '' All that energy produced by companies who have invested in equipment and infrastructure, you played no part of it. Scotland produces whisky, should that be cheap or free for us??? Give it a rest yah nugget.
@StrangeFruit-my4yv I think your a nugget. What I'm saying is that Westminster takes and Scotland receives nothing, or should I say very little. They knew in the 70s how rich Scotland would be and Westminster couldn't have that. But that is colonialism. Research is important. You should try it.
@@whir4us The only thing a government takes is taxes and if you think Scotland has better people than Westminster in administration then you're daft. In 2022 Nicola Sturgeon sold off 2,700 square miles off the coast of Scotland licensed for for 17 giant windfarm projects for a fraction of what comparable sites have been sold for. We received £700 million on auction , New York put the New York Bight, an subsea area off Long Island, up for auction and received $4.37 billion US dollars for a quarter of the size Scotland released. You'll be astonished to learn that the Scottish auction was capped at a maximum level. Most auctions I know have a floor price but not a maximum. The Scottish Finance Secretary Kate Forbes was asked on why the sum raised was so small. The response from the Scottish Government was Placing a cap on the amount bidders could offer per square kilometre ensured that bidders would have confidence to meet the further investment necessary to deliver on each project and realise the associated supply chain benefits. They couldn't run a piss up in a brewery.
@@StrangeFruit-my4yv so it's ok for a Westminster government to steal the resources of another country such as Scotland and wales, and not give back profits to the people but to give them to their friends, rich friends. You have been brainwashed into thinking that Westminster is the best thing for Scotland and Wales. Scotland is the purse for Westminster as was India for over 150 years. Take the recourses and leave a country poor. £15 trillion taken from Scottish waters since the 70s, after the Mccrone report stated that an independent Scotland would be o of the richest countries in the world. Yes, we look at the debt that Westminster has created. Not a very good track re ortd and the tax payer having to pay for their mistakes.
Drax Group plc acquired the Cruachan Power Station at a cost of £702m. I used to own my last house before I sold, I have no right to it now, simple as that.
Parts of the Disney Star Wars series Andor were shot here. You can see the dam (with some CGI additions) as the empire supply hub on the planet Aldhani.
IGNORE ALL TH-cam CHANNELS WHOSE OWNERS/BACKERS REFUSE TO SAY WHO THEY ARE. IF THE PERSON ISN'T TRYING TO MANIPULATE YOU, THEY'LL TELL YOU WHO THEY ARE. ONE OF THE FIRST RULES OF INFORMATION, FIND OUT WHERE IT IS FROM AND WHO IS PROVIDING IT.....
The irony is that today Scotland produces over 100% of renewable energy for its own needs and exports vast amounts to England.... yet pays the highest energy prices in Europe..........
England need us, we don’t need them we would thrive on our own one day pal✌️🏴
@@TheClassifiedMan We'd have to decent leadership in government first.
Australia is trying to go the same way, and our power prices are skyrocketing.
Renewable does not mean cheaper, cleaner, easier, or anything else people associate with it. Oil is not renewable so at SOME POINT it will be a problem. Thats what they are addressing.
England sell it back to us
My Dad was a Tunnel Tiger and also the lead miner in the Clyde Tunnel, the first tunnel constructed under compressed air. God rest Hughie Donaghy!
Thank you for sharing pal that was a nice read, you’re old man is a legend I drive through the Clyde tunnel often✌️🏴 just annoying it cuts the radio off due to the signal 😂😂
@TheClassifiedMan can't believe they pushed tech beyond known bounds but never covered for wireless signal
My dad Hughie Laverty was a tunnel tiger on the Clyde tunnel he was from Donegal he moved to Glasgow when he was 15 🙏
@@rickylaverty8192knew him well. Deaf as a post!
Respect to him and his fellow workers.
I went to this as a visitor and later on I actually worked in it and it’s a lot bigger than what is shown. Truly a marvel of engineering 🏴
Do they have visits for public?
@@Rossklesyes, that was stated in video. Even Hunterston Power Station had visitor days and it was a nuclear plant
Did you ever wear that tartan?
Very proud that my father was one of the team of consultant engineers who designed Cruachan and he in fact cut the first sod that inaugurated the start of the project. His name was Allan Ferrie,he was a partner in the firm of James Williamson and partners ,consultant engineers,based in Glasgow.They were responsible for many other hydroelectric projects principally in Scotland and Wales. Margaret Faulds.
We have lochs in Scotland not lakes.
Is it still a loch if it's behind a dam?
@@traildude7538we have sea lochs, locgans, lochs and yes, it's still a Loch, but a man made one.
One lake! Lake of Menteith!
The cruachan dam was also featured in Andor season 1
Lake of Menth?
Do you think for one second that we would let water run out , NO 1 , Its Scotland so it rains a lot , NO 2 , Distilleries need it for our whisky ( can you imagine no whisky it would be an epic tradgedy ) NO 3 , The Haggis need to drink and keep hydrated in summer. 👌🏴🥃🐾
Aye, yeh canne forget thon Haggi.
😂😂😂😂😂Well said Viking 🏴🏴🏴🏴🏴
No 3, the Haggis need to drink and keep hydrated on both days of a Scottish summer. You're welcome.
Gota look after the haggis🤗
N°1 Scots products are immortals, born in the highlands !
Ripped off with coal, ripped off with oil and gas, now ripped off with energy,,, Westmister also considering piping water from Scotland to England!!...nothing to see here,, BAU...
Yup
Eh it’s already happening. My dad’s best friend delivered the water pipes in the 1970’s . The pipes are big enough to stand inside them. This employer had the contract to deliver all the water pipes. They start around the border of Scotland & England & bridge the gap between the Scottish & English water systems. They are the reason that sometimes we have hosepipe bans from time to time. Scotland always has enough fresh water for our needs, it was only once our water supply was connected to Englands that they started telling us that there could be shortages. If you have been anywhere in England & they have soft water, it’s not their natural supply because England water is all hard not soft water.
@lanelothian1925 2 new pipes built within the last 10 years, that You can turn a transit van in, its not metered until it crosses the border.
@@MrAlbagobragh why does that not surprise me. They should put turbines inside the pipes & sell the Electricity to England. 😂
Soar Alba this is another reason why we need Independence and then we decide who we want to govern us 🏴🏴🏴🏴🏴
Makes total sense. The wind might not blow, the sun might not shine, but one thing is assured in the British Isles ... it's going to rain !
Thank you for covering my beloved Islands 👊
Not Brittish
And the laws of gravity remain constant so water will always flow down hill! 24/7 365 days a year! unlike the wind or Sun!
And the midges are little Killers by Lochawe side :(
@@nialllee2695 Scotland is most definitely part of the British Isles. What are you on man?
@Thurgosh_OG you my friend are deluded WE are Scots . Was bever part of your BRITTISH isles England ,Ireland Wales SCOTLAND where is your country called brittain , now Bri ton , Breton maybe NOT BRITTAIN a misnomer .
We Scots invented most of the modern world. 🤙🙂🏴
Yeah, and your punishment will be severe.
Every time he says UK or Britain he should be saying Scotland. Quel surprise.
So when are you going to modernize Scotland?
@@williamfrazier4797we are modern what do you mean?
And England pocketed the profits ,its called Colonialism.
I worked there a couple of times nearly 40 years ago. It was snowing outside and tropical inside.
Fun fact.. we in the uk pay more for our electricity than most places in the western world 😒
Ahem!!!!! A hugh amount of UK energy is purchaesd from Qatar, France and Norway. Also there are energy producers who add their profit margin, then for no reason at all there are the energy retail companies who also add on their profit margin, so we pay middle men for nothing.......
@@conormcmenemie5126 exactly.. we have to pay a ridiculous price for OUR energy so the energy companies get to keep the profits
The wholesale price of electricity over the last year has been below 12 pence per kwh so the mark up is huge, at least 100%. The government sets the price cap via ofgem based on the price of gas generated electricity, even through gas is the most expensive electricity. Most electricity is generated from nuclear and wind. So the cap is always well above the wholesale price. The electricity companies have to pay the government a percentage of this inflated profit. So when we pay our electricity bills we're actually paying tax, oh and don't forget the additional 5% vat we pay on the bill that including that tax, so here in the UK even our tax is taxed.
England takes all Scottish energy for nothing and then sells these stolen goods back to us. That's how the English empire works. Change is coming.
@@ianjohnston9325 The joys of living in a fading 1st world state. 3rd rate govt administrators figuring out new ways to find tax revenue to pay their salaries, pensions and justify their existence. the problem multiplied with a 4 fold increase in university graduates expecting the other 60% to prop up their pyramid scheme. I shudda moved to a smaller island a looooong time ago
Scotland paid £275 million back to the power companies last year for no using the fucking electricity 😢
How dumb can you be £275mill fuck me
Paid it back?
Fucking daylight robbery that is!!
More corporate bs
@flashgordon6670 yes go tell people and run for local office
Most of Europe's engineering marvels are in Scotland. The industrial revolution started here.. in Lothian (forth/clyde belt.) about 1550..
Pity we can't build ferries though.
@@gargarbraigh9737 I didn't know Brunel was Scottish.
@@BlackBuck777 The two in Fergusons were a complicated LNG design which nobody but the greens wanted. If they get the small ferry replacement contract they'll rattle through them
I don't know about most xD
But Scotland certainly has about 5x as much engineering marvel density, and inventions and even contributions to the arts, per capita than anywhere else. So you're not far off.
British civil service controls who build ferries Muppet@@BlackBuck777
Scotland produces enough electricity to not only power Scotland but the North of England too. The amount of energy sold outside Scotland is more than enough to pay for production meaning we could provide free energy for everyone in Scotland for….. FREE!!!!
Power companies produce the power, you had nothing to do with it, did you buy share in these companies? Scotland produces whisky should that be free or cheaper?
Well done Scotland ! A great idea, with great implementation. That's quite a bar for the rest of us to try and reach.
The Scotts are world leaders when it comes to bars.
Most of Scotland was supporting Germany during that 1990 world Cup semi final 😂
Nonsense. All of Scotland was.
i was 15 in 1990 and yes i was supporting germany - even though my father is english - im scottish 100%
@@hugoagogo9435……yes, I thought most was an underestimate too !
@@hugoagogo9435actually, most of the people I know were either supporting Germany or didn’t watch the match at all. So I’d agree.
@@hugoagogo9435 Given that around 50% of the population doesn't watch or even like football, I think you may exaggerating there pal.
In Australia we are trying a similar setup called Snowy 2.0 but the tunneling machines are stuck due to geological collapses. Now on hold for well over a year and costs are mounting while they work out how to save this project.
Its a shame. I had worked on PHS R&D and the Snowy mountian complex looked sort of promising, but the sinkholes and roof falls have created problems which should have been taken seriously much earlier. Still, every hydro project teeters on the brink of failure, then it remains for decades just giving.
Funny how so many big projects come to a similar end. Oh well I'm sure it's nothing a few billion dollars in the right hands can't fix.
We could all have free energy if it wasn't for the evil controllers❤
Don't worry, when the UK has part time energy sources.... It will be just that and very expensive!!!!
Scotland's high energy prices could be attributed to policy decisions, including taxation, levies for renewable energy subsidies, and grid charges. These are set at a UK-wide level, not specifically by Scotland. Rather than focusing on production/export, addressing regulatory reforms might be more effective for lowering costs.
And corruption like all of UK
Scotland's high energy prices could be attributed to....pure greed.
I went on the tour many years ago. It was breathtakingly awesome. I had never before or since been in such a vast cavernous space. What did freak me out was when our driver turned his vehicle to face the way we came in before we got out of it - in case we had to make a hasty departure!
Turning around before parking is perfectly normal emergency preparedness for any underground workings. Other underground power stations I've worked in or visited do exactly the same.
In 1603 James VI (1st of England) jimmy sax we call him.. took a lump of coal south to London when he took the English throne.. to show them how we do energy in Scotland.. 1603.
Apparently one of the Rumanian Princes who along with the rest of European nobility converged in London and england after the battle of waterloo wrote an extensive description of the black stones which the english put in fires that burns much hotter and for longer than wood. By 1815 there were still many places who had never heard of even the concept of coal. Did'nt know that about Jimmy 6
Didn’t Guy Fox with others got his body quartered and the four parts sent over the two countries coz they don’t count Wales and Ireland is Ireland
Coz they tried to blow up that king
Some years ago a friend was working at the Cruachan plant testing equipment, the plant was not working when a power plant in east Scotland failed in service. They soon had phone call asking if they could start generating, which they did.
I took a tour many years ago when on holiday in Scotland
Great job! I am a of Scottish decent & I truly believe in freedom. Love your outfit & respect your privacy.
This comment is very american
So aren't you free where you live. Maybe you are from north Korea.
Freedom for Scotland???
I’m from Scotland✌️🏴
He's American.
There is already a pumped storage facility at Loch Ness, namely the Foyers one which is a 300Mw system completed in 1974, initially built to make use of the excess capacity of the Hunterston B nuclear power plant. I think the proposed new 450Mw plant is towards the other end of the loch, but I could be wrong here, I haven't checked on a map and it's over twenty five years since I visited the Foyers site and control room.
One of your best videos! I am an engineer (retired) and I love the idea of a physical battery on such a scale.
After all I have learned, I love everything about this power station!
The only youtuber that is entertaining that I can watch with grandparents
The image of the generator hall at 7:54 is reversed for some reason. The name plate on the second generator gives it away. It should read ABB (Asea Brown Boveri), the Swiss electrical products company formed by the merger of ASEA of Sweden and BBC of Switzerland.
Yeah man the raptors in Scotland are massive this time of year
You should do a video on how Canada is generating, electricity by harnessing the enormous tides in the Bay of Fundy!
Similar to our hydroelectric dams! Thank you for the information, very informative!
Its been so long since i watched you videos, glad to be back.
In Norway we have done this in almost a cenury, 98 % of our power is generated mostly like this.
Odd B
Freiherr
And Norway is rich because it's their energy. Scotland has to buy all its stolen energy back from England.
Don't you also turn off the waterfalls in winter to save water while tourists aren't around
@@andybrown4284 I believe they do the same thing at Niagara Falls!
HYDRO is huge. Everyone worked there. ❤
Hydro is not pumped storage.
Nothing better to start my day with another one of their videos. Yes i got my coffee and dabs.
I saluted when he said "Scotland"... I truly am Scottish
The UK's pumped storage is far too small to supply power for a windless week. It has less than an hour's peak demand.
Great 😃😃👍👍 video 😊😊 from Malaysia 🇲🇾🇲🇾🇲🇾🇲🇾🇲🇾
The demand surges during TV sports are not unique to the UK, nor is it new. We experienced this at NY Telephone 50 years ago, during Super Bowl breaks. A crossbar or step-by-step central office, normally a deafening roar of hundreds of clacking switches, would practically go silent while the game was on.
You and your slurpping addiction!😆 Love your channel.
You, WATOP, are my new online crush. 😍 Love your voice and bright mind. When I see your new content posted, I turn into a giddy fan girl. 🥰❤️🔥💘
Fun fact, The Cruachan Dam is built along the Pass of Brander, Site of one of Scotland's most important Battles, If Bruce had lost at Brander, Bannockburn wouldn't have happened.
Very true Bruce and Douglas kicked ass at cruachan pass of brander.
Your voice has that perfect touch of iconic.
In the UK we know this as the ad break spike. When millions of people are watching something, say England in a World Cup finals match the ad break comes at half time after 45 minutes of play. At this point everyone goes into the kitchen and sticks the kettle on, not literally, to make a cuppa. Most UK kettles are over 2 kilowatts, for context.
True 😂
And our electric bills costs a fortune
You should check out what’s inside the hills of Coulport??? Bet you never find out!
I was there yesterday , but it was so foggy I would never have seen anything anyway 😂
Are you talking about the armory/weapon storage place near to faslane? Yeah that's impenetrable apparently
@@lewisisdaman Yeah the weapons of mass destruction are stored in the hills, But it’s what is inside the hill that makes it so special & not many people know about it. This is the reason why it’s nearly impossible to build it anywhere else in the UK. If Scotland gained independence that would be one hell of a headache for Parliament. To move it to somewhere similar would probably take 30 to 40 years & cost over £200 billion.
@@bigaldo246 is it the rock that encases the armoury?
@@disco1969 Well…..it’s something like science fiction or something you would see in a Bond movie..”The Spy Who Loved Me” or “Indian Jones Raiders of the Lost Ark” are some good clues for you! .
Aha! So that's where they filmed the dam scenes for Andor! ☝️
I delivered the breaker switches for this power station…… i had to drive down the 13ft 3ins black cave in my truck and deliver these huge breaker switches into a trapdoor above my truck! I know where I’m going in a nuclear war! Lolol and I can confirm it is warm!
Alkenzi Space Command - star Wars. Andor.
@ it does feel like your in a Star Wars movie when you drive down the tiny tunnel in a 18 ton truck!
The dam is hugely impressive, and you can walk right to it, and on it. Ben Cruachan is a fantastic mountain to hike, quite rocky, but not too challenging. And the rock there is brilliant for walking/scrambling, you stick to it like a gecko. Summer, i.e. no ice that is. I had an absolutely mind-blowing clowd inversion there a couple of weeks ago. Just a sea of clowds all around and just the highest peaks sticking out. Highly recommended.
Proud to be scottish🏴🇬🇧
Scottish under British rule???
@DonCooper-vq7nv yes😎🇬🇧🇬🇧
@@DonCooper-vq7nv 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻🇬🇧
thank you very much for these videos. Love the info and the way you present and deliver the content. the edits and animations, and such are a lot of fun too. thanks for the extra...
In New Zealand, there is also a subterranean power station.
It is at Manapōuri. The water flows from Lake Manapōuri to a power station built 200 metres underground, then continues flowing out tailrace tunnels into the ocean at Deep Cove which is situated in Doubtful Sound in Fiordland on the south islands West Coast.
Manapōuri power station is located in Fiordland National Park, on the South Island of New Zealand.
It has seven 128-megawatt generating units, and an operating maximum station output limited to 800 megawatts.
Manapōuri generates enough electricity for about 619,000 average New Zealand homes.
Yeah , a major engineering feat for NZ , wasn't it to power Tiwai Aluminum Smelter which is unfortunately now owned by an overseas company
@@nigelswindles1129 yeah, there was a dedicated power line built just for it, but just recently there has been an upgrade of the power lines heading north away from the substation in Invercargill. This is to mitigate the fact Tiwai will one day reach its life term, and the power can be re-directed to the national grid.
As a Scot I'm ashamed - I've been to the Manapōuri power station but not to Cruachan...
scotland keeps england it needs to stop
the uk without scotland is just a new security threat
You can't take a dump in the UK without Big Brother's permission.
That is Royalty for you!!!
…….of, if only I had freeeeeeeeeeedom🙄
I have so much more freedom in Scotland than many other countries.
You can just into the countryside with a shovel and dig a hole. But if you want a system which takes of all that refuse away and disposes it for you, then you have to pay for it, not unless you're part of the parasite class that don't do anything other than whinge.
Stargate Scotland revealed. 🙀
Nah it was Star Wars , it was crucial to the Empire in Endor.
Why do you think they will not give us our independence .
Because the majority of scots voted against it. They live in a democracy
Because 'most' working and self employed people don't want it. Scotland has a very large parasitic benefit class that don't work because of their 'supposed' mental health problems, we also have another group that are so morbidly obese that they're deemed physically disabled, on top of that have more heroin junkies than England. It's this parasite class that want's independence.
I wish you lot would just leave. You do nothing but moan whilst at the same time being a net drain on England's coffers.
I think you will find the drainage is closer to home that you think
Pish ma man pish. Give us back our donations to 2012 Olympics, Cross rail, HS2. This is how it works, all Scotlands taxes go to the Exchequer, 1/3 to Scotland, 1/3 for Scottish projects but decided by Westminster and 1/3 subsidises UK project guess who get that? Who was it said in 2014 that the only way Scotland could stay in Europe was to remain in the Union? And where are we now? England rules, a union of equals my arse. A colony we are and a colony we remain.Times coming if we only live to see it. It's not England's people we moan at it is Westminster. Let us go.@wayn3h
Visited cruachan on a school trip in the late 70s, the visit still sits with me today.
learning somthing new all the time
Good job mate, Much ❤️
Thank you for your offerings❤🍎🙏👍
this looks like where Andor was filmed
Scotland's work on Tidal Power generation is worth a video too if you will please?
❤❤❤ truly inspirational
"This Is Why Scotland Won't Let Millions of Tons of Water Run Out of the Mountains"
We meet again old friend.
Seems like an odd video title for this one to be fair
We have the same type of system in Missouri at Tom Salk power plant except it is all on the surface of our mountain. And the dam is a full 360 degrees around instead of damming a valley. It was built about the same time in the fifties.
If the mural is fabricated from wood, plastic and gold leaf then it’s not a fresco; it’s a “bas relief”. A “fresco” is rendered in water based paint applied to fresh damp plaster.
The spikes in electricity demand coinciding with commercial breaks (or, as we call them on this side the pond, the adverts) is absolutely true and something you didn't mention is that the control rooms of peaker-plants have televisions showing live broadcasts so that they can spool up the turbines at the appropriate moment.
I love the concept! We went from hunters gatherers living in caves, to massive civilizations marring the surface of the earth, and back to relying on the benefits of earthen structures to conceal massive eye sores.
Let's hope that in the future, we collectively revert to subterranean civilizations like the: Elloras caves, Mogao caves, Coober Pedy mines, Meza Verde, Derinkuyu city and our metropolitan underground malls that are so popular in Canada.
Be it the dwarves of European mythology and Tolkien fame, or the Morlocks in the Time Machine, humans seem to be destined to dwell within the earth, not upon it
The Lock Ness hydro projects could be a problem, there have been concerns raised already around the water levels dropping, and apparently there are two new hydro plants planned, further reducing the water levels of loch ness and endangering wildlife.
Loch ness has more water than all the lakes rivers and streams in England with plenty left over.
That is true. However, also true is that when the water is pumped elsewhere, so that it can be used to create electricity, it is no longer in Loch Ness.
That fact and that it was in an environmental report where it stated my concern.
Pumped Storage Facility. Check out the TVA Raccoon Mountain facility just East of Chatanooga, TN. The road into the generator hall can accomodate an entire tractor trailer rig.
We are not Brits, we are Scots as in Scottish from Scotland.
Collectively Brit's 😅
Scotland run free! I'm sure Scandinavia will help you escape Westminster. 😎
thanks, didn't know a thing about this.
Went on the tour around 2000. it's a feat of engineering, yes and it is around 18°C, they even have plants growing in parts lit by daylight spectrum lamps, very interesting and huge, video can not reflect the shear size.
Gaz UK
He’s voice would be crazy on a rap song
Combined with his creative pronunciation? Off the hook!
Heard this same voice on other channels too
Ummm no 😂😂😂
Way to go Scotland!
Years ago, I was involved with the Dinorwic power plant project, and thanks for promoting the British ingenuity from years ago. Hopefully more will come in these crazy times of so-called “net zero” instead of the money wasted on wind generation and solar panels, which are far from ecological.
The fact you were involved in an energy capture project that suits and supports green energy, yet you still do not understand how the diversity of energy production is ESSENTIAL to Great Britain becoming self sufficient and sustainable is tragic.
Stop bleating when your dog whistle influencers expect you too.
Slow down, step back and actually think about it.
Read more than the headlines and listen to sources outside of what social media promotes.
@@jedfra9172I think what they were saying is that the older wind turbines & solar panels were very inefficient. The older wind turbines were so inefficient they could barely produce enough energy to light the visitor centre never mind much else. One of the most efficient renewable energy is wave power as the sea never takes a day off. You can’t blame someone for knowing how inefficient the technology was as they worked within that sector.
Rubbish again you people never read widely one of Australia's states that I am unable to think of has worked out how to recycle every bit of a solar panel
That's not Big Ben, Big Ben is the bell only.
In general, going underground is a good path for all of humanity. Not just in terms of electricity.
We have a similar system running in South Africa.
This is a load of waffle. It is a pumped storage facility. It uses overnight surplus electricity to pump water up to the reservoir. It is stored, until there is a peak demand, for electricity, it has only a short delivery time. The $64,000 question is 100,000 homes, or Edinburgh city, for how long?
He said 22hrs.
It acts like a giant battery/smoothing capacitor reducing large spikes in demand which over time can damage expensive equipment
@@RickyKirkman Which is probably bollocks.
I’ve visited it and it’s absolutely fantastic. 👍
`and the english will sell it to the highest bidder
It has already been sold numerous times
Drax Group plc acquired the Cruachan Power Station at a cost of £702m. I used to own my last house before I sold, I have no right to it now, simple as that.
I live in argyle an bute just around the loch from here are the hills of argyle 🏴🏴❤️
Crew - a - con? ... Love it. It's pronounced Crew -a- chan ('ch' sounds as in loch). Never mind: Right at the end, the bloke doing the voiceover proves he can't say loch either. It was built because nuclear power plants take ages to ramp up and slow down. Cruachan enables nuclear power stations to produce at a steady rate while taking care of peaks and troughs in demand. It's now being used to try to do the same thing with wind power because the 'green' lobby has stuffed nuclear power. Unfortunately, supposedly environmentally friendly wind turbines actually produce more greenhouse gases per kilowatt/hour of electricity generated than nuclear stations because wind turbines are so grossly inefficient and use huge amounts of steel and concrete in their construction. The electricity they produce is entirely unreliable (when the wind don't blow, the turbines don't go and the leccy don't flow) and hugely expensive, which is why we pay a fortune for electricity in the UK. Time to give the 'green' lobby a good kicking, don't you think?
Just to say (last time i was there) there is a mini-bus that takes you down the road into the powerplant so visitors don't need to walk in. Great video. When you visit you think Bond movies and bases inside volcanos - especially since it has a 60's feel about the design.
enough with masks.
Agree
Amazing video. Love your channel, keep it coming!!
Would love to teach you how to pronounce the word 'Cruachan' properly, but your making a brave effort
I believe it's actually a clan war-cry but I could be mistaken.
Yep - it's great - and made an excellent location for filming Andor. 😊
In Scotland.
Have climbed Ben Cruachan at least 4 times and the rest of the peaks above the dam and done the tour of the power station. Views from summit are glorious across to the Isle of Mull etc.
Thats why the folk of Scotland went to get a beer to celebrate the home nation. Well done Germany and Spain😂.
All energy from Scotland that benefits the Westminster Establishment to no benefit to the people of Scotland.
Scotland is a colony of England
Don't put up with it !!! The Huntars of America did.
''All energy from Scotland '' All that energy produced by companies who have invested in equipment and infrastructure, you played no part of it. Scotland produces whisky, should that be cheap or free for us??? Give it a rest yah nugget.
@StrangeFruit-my4yv I think your a nugget. What I'm saying is that Westminster takes and Scotland receives nothing, or should I say very little. They knew in the 70s how rich Scotland would be and Westminster couldn't have that. But that is colonialism. Research is important. You should try it.
@@whir4us The only thing a government takes is taxes and if you think Scotland has better people than Westminster in administration then you're daft. In 2022 Nicola Sturgeon sold off 2,700 square miles off the coast of Scotland licensed for for 17 giant windfarm projects for a fraction of what comparable sites have been sold for.
We received £700 million on auction , New York put the New York Bight, an subsea area off Long Island, up for auction and received $4.37 billion US dollars for a quarter of the size Scotland released.
You'll be astonished to learn that the Scottish auction was capped at a maximum level. Most auctions I know have a floor price but not a maximum.
The Scottish Finance Secretary Kate Forbes was asked on why the sum raised was so small. The response from the Scottish Government was Placing a cap on the amount bidders could offer per square kilometre ensured that bidders would have confidence to meet the further investment necessary to deliver on each project and realise the associated supply chain benefits. They couldn't run a piss up in a brewery.
@@StrangeFruit-my4yv so it's ok for a Westminster government to steal the resources of another country such as Scotland and wales, and not give back profits to the people but to give them to their friends, rich friends. You have been brainwashed into thinking that Westminster is the best thing for Scotland and Wales. Scotland is the purse for Westminster as was India for over 150 years. Take the recourses and leave a country poor. £15 trillion taken from Scottish waters since the 70s, after the Mccrone report stated that an independent Scotland would be o of the richest countries in the world. Yes, we look at the debt that Westminster has created. Not a very good track re ortd and the tax payer having to pay for their mistakes.
What’s funny is everyone watching the football north of the border want England to lose 😂.
The tax payer paid for this, so it belongs to the public not some company.
Drax Group plc acquired the Cruachan Power Station at a cost of £702m. I used to own my last house before I sold, I have no right to it now, simple as that.
Parts of the Disney Star Wars series Andor were shot here. You can see the dam (with some CGI additions) as the empire supply hub on the planet Aldhani.
Yes, as a massive star wars fan um glad you noticed
Why are you dressed like that?
This kind of system also exists in the US, including one on the Connecticut River in Massachusetts
IGNORE ALL TH-cam CHANNELS WHOSE OWNERS/BACKERS REFUSE TO SAY WHO THEY ARE. IF THE PERSON ISN'T TRYING TO MANIPULATE YOU, THEY'LL TELL YOU WHO THEY ARE. ONE OF THE FIRST RULES OF INFORMATION, FIND OUT WHERE IT IS FROM AND WHO IS PROVIDING IT.....
Are you ok son?
Got you and no problem brother 👌 💯 💪
Why are you hiding your face?
Quite brilliant 👏