Britain's largest battery is actually a lake

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  • เผยแพร่เมื่อ 15 ก.ย. 2024
  • Dinorwig Power Station, otherwise known as Electric Mountain, is a pumped-storage hydro station in Llanberis, Wales. And yes: it's Britain's largest battery. Here's how it works, and why some of the things you think you know about TV pickups might not be so true any more.
    Thanks to all the Engie team! More about them: www.engie.com/
    Camera op: Ryan Priestnall
    Editor: Michelle Martin / @onthecrux
    I'm at tomscott.com
    on Twitter at / tomscott
    on Facebook at / tomscott
    and on Instagram as tomscottgo

ความคิดเห็น • 2.4K

  • @ogrejd
    @ogrejd 5 ปีที่แล้ว +5721

    "...this rainy bit of Wales". Well, that narrows it down a little. :P

    • @jammyjammingtonjam
      @jammyjammingtonjam 5 ปีที่แล้ว +163

      Just thought I'd mention, it's just north of Snowdonia. Dinorwig neighbours to the North of Snowdon. (You can actually see it from Snowdon if you take the path from Llanberis.)
      I mention this here because Snowdonia is *a rainy bit of Wales* compared to the rest XD

    • @batt3ryac1d
      @batt3ryac1d 5 ปีที่แล้ว +16

      It's not as if Wales is that large

    • @Timpilgrim
      @Timpilgrim 5 ปีที่แล้ว +254

      @@batt3ryac1d It covers an area about the size of Wales

    • @jammyjammingtonjam
      @jammyjammingtonjam 5 ปีที่แล้ว +113

      ​As a resident of Wales, I can confirm @@Timpilgrim's statement to be accurate.

    • @epiendless1128
      @epiendless1128 5 ปีที่แล้ว +82

      There are two bits of Wales - the rainy bit and the bit that's about to be rainy.

  • @robscallon
    @robscallon 5 ปีที่แล้ว +6508

    This is one of my favorite channels on TH-cam

    • @zacharygh
      @zacharygh 5 ปีที่แล้ว +97

      I was not expecting to see you here.

    • @IMWT
      @IMWT 5 ปีที่แล้ว +5

      Robby baby

    • @harm9249
      @harm9249 5 ปีที่แล้ว +2

      hello there rob

    • @ArrowNought
      @ArrowNought 5 ปีที่แล้ว +26

      Why is Rob Scallon here?
      Guess this is just a great channel

    • @RSpudieD
      @RSpudieD 5 ปีที่แล้ว +7

      I know right! He's awesome!

  • @sionjones1675
    @sionjones1675 5 ปีที่แล้ว +2734

    Ha, I saw the email "Britain's largest battery is actually a lake" and I knew it was going to be this!
    I worked there for a while, feels like some kind of bond lair.

    • @lovemusicreplay
      @lovemusicreplay 5 ปีที่แล้ว +39

      How do you work at these sort of things?

    • @besserwisser4055
      @besserwisser4055 5 ปีที่แล้ว +108

      probably by having a related job and working for that specific company, if it is owned by one

    • @BitcoinJake09
      @BitcoinJake09 5 ปีที่แล้ว +22

      Why couldnt they use gravity to pump the water back into the top and basically have free energy??

    • @therandomhat_
      @therandomhat_ 5 ปีที่แล้ว +149

      at BitcoinJake09 Beceause gravity only brings things closer, it can’t repel things away.

    • @EwanMarshall
      @EwanMarshall 5 ปีที่แล้ว +19

      Yeah, I've been in there on the tourist tour, also been in Cruachan Power Station in Scotland, well worth visiting one of these if in the area. Very cool places.

  • @colinhiggins1042
    @colinhiggins1042 4 ปีที่แล้ว +1548

    I was in charge of removing the last major bit of rock (in the draft tube valve gallery for those of a technical bent) in 1979 as a student engineer. Amazing place and even more awe inspiring when it was an empty hole with no machinery!

    • @RvB_Fan_since_8
      @RvB_Fan_since_8 4 ปีที่แล้ว +27

      Was it interesting see it full of machinery when you had already seen it empty?

    • @JBG-AjaxzeMedia
      @JBG-AjaxzeMedia 3 ปีที่แล้ว +14

      a student engineer put in charge of removing a giant piece of rock? some ballsy employers

    • @colinhiggins1042
      @colinhiggins1042 3 ปีที่แล้ว +107

      @@JBG-AjaxzeMedia not really. The miners were very skilled and did most of the work. I just marked out the centre line, level line and they knew the blast pattern. Some blasts weren’t very accurate anyway as the rock (slate) varied in hardness, so you had to go back and take a bit more out anyway. Putting stuff in (concrete, steel, machinery) was much trickier!

    • @attractivegd9531
      @attractivegd9531 3 ปีที่แล้ว +5

      Amazing job you have sir :)

    • @prathyush4583
      @prathyush4583 3 ปีที่แล้ว +5

      wow really?
      you are really lucky.

  • @Airan102banshee
    @Airan102banshee 4 ปีที่แล้ว +3105

    'a swimming pool every second'
    I thought that's US customary unit, never knew British also use it!

    • @samuelthecamel
      @samuelthecamel 4 ปีที่แล้ว +161

      @@warren1134 Or the volume of a football stadium

    • @falsehashtags6581
      @falsehashtags6581 4 ปีที่แล้ว +94

      The Olympic sized swimming pool is a US unit, not a swimming pool

    • @julianvandenberghe8512
      @julianvandenberghe8512 4 ปีที่แล้ว +58

      Actually we use Olympic Swimming Pools. They're almost the same but they're defined in terms of Football Fields to make the conversion easier.

    • @anonUK
      @anonUK 4 ปีที่แล้ว +43

      @@warren1134
      Or Wales. We used to dabble with the Belgium as a unit of area but that's subsided post-Brexit.

    • @TC-th1ey
      @TC-th1ey 4 ปีที่แล้ว +14

      How about "as long as two cricket pitches."

  • @Zadster
    @Zadster 5 ปีที่แล้ว +2159

    Fun fact, Dinorwig is so powerful that it can perform a "black start". In other words, it can bump start the *entire* UK National Grid.

    • @arjovenzia
      @arjovenzia 5 ปีที่แล้ว +337

      That is no small feat, very impressive. I know some of the big outages they had in the states in the 80's took days to get everything back in order.

    • @mnikhk
      @mnikhk 5 ปีที่แล้ว +68

      Wow for real looks big but didn’t think it was that big

    • @shamainshamain5021
      @shamainshamain5021 5 ปีที่แล้ว +9

      Wow

    • @tylisirn
      @tylisirn 5 ปีที่แล้ว +334

      @@mnikhk During a black start only the powerstations are being fed electricity. So you don't need all that much power output, but the problem is that you do need that power output. That is the chicken-and-egg problem of starting a power plant. You need power to start the power plant before the power plant produces any power.
      Hydro is often used to provide the black start capability to electricity grids, because starting it up can be as easy as opening a (very big) valve and it can ramp up to full output quickly. So this plant and others like it provide the power to start other, bigger, plants like natural gas, and then finally big coal plants. As the power output from all of them slowly ramp up the power is then diverted to the actual consumers in the grid and area by area power comes back on.

    • @Tjita1
      @Tjita1 5 ปีที่แล้ว +120

      It's not so much the power output, it's the ability to start outputing power at the correct frequency without having the grid to synchronize to.

  • @lowercaserho
    @lowercaserho 5 ปีที่แล้ว +905

    I remember begrudgingly going on a geography field trip with my school to this place, back in the mid 90s. And now, here I am, over 20 years later, watching a TH-cam video about the same thing, willingly and happily.

    • @MrEagleofthe9th
      @MrEagleofthe9th 5 ปีที่แล้ว +17

      I did that too in 2006. I found it awesome at the time

    • @MK-ex4pb
      @MK-ex4pb 5 ปีที่แล้ว +22

      You weren't ready

    • @tams805
      @tams805 5 ปีที่แล้ว +22

      Field Trip = no lessons* for the day. This = almost a whole lesson still left plus the rest of the day.
      *trip write-up no included

    • @part-timepartytime9621
      @part-timepartytime9621 5 ปีที่แล้ว +28

      yeah, kids are literally stupid. I remember I absolutely hated learning in school and now all I do for fun is learn about things. Every day is filled with regret over the countless opportunities for education I let slip by me. But that's life for ya, you don't know what you have until it's gone.

    • @dunruden9720
      @dunruden9720 5 ปีที่แล้ว +12

      20 years ago I couldn't even spell teacher. Now I are one!

  • @emmanuelrodriguez2346
    @emmanuelrodriguez2346 4 ปีที่แล้ว +526

    As a costarican (my country produces 90% of electricity by dams) i cannot imagine pumping up a reservoir just to cover on demand peaks, but as an engineer, I'm way more impressed of stopping such a huge flow of water in 10-30 seconds. The guys who designed the relief valves and system surely had the most funny and stressful job of the project.

    • @DerekHohls
      @DerekHohls 2 ปีที่แล้ว +11

      Not all countries are "energy rich". Where I live we also use pumped storage energy to help us cope with peak demands.

    • @foty8679
      @foty8679 2 ปีที่แล้ว +8

      I mean, tbf most major European nations could happily have dirt cheap electricity available in huge quantites but that wouldnt help with climate change.

    • @thejumper7282
      @thejumper7282 2 ปีที่แล้ว +4

      I dont want to be rude but you guys have like 3 hydroelectric dams....

    • @magusperde365
      @magusperde365 2 ปีที่แล้ว +25

      I live in Quebec, we produce so much damn hydroelectricity we could pull the plug on half of new york if we wanted. It's also state owned so we have the cheapest electricity in north america and everyone profits. We got 681 dams

    • @adamkerman475
      @adamkerman475 2 ปีที่แล้ว +8

      @@thejumper7282 it’s a small country to be fair.

  • @mr.nerd3.142
    @mr.nerd3.142 4 ปีที่แล้ว +964

    Electric Mountain sounds like the name of a place in a Pokémon game.

    • @ekvedrek
      @ekvedrek 4 ปีที่แล้ว +26

      Sounds like a landmark name in a kid's Minecraft city

    • @MetaBloxer
      @MetaBloxer 3 ปีที่แล้ว +19

      Sounds like an attraction at a theme park

    • @theramendutchman
      @theramendutchman 3 ปีที่แล้ว +8

      Or some place in Middle Earth to avoid

    • @EckyBoy007
      @EckyBoy007 3 ปีที่แล้ว +3

      Reminds me of Eddy Grant song ;)

    • @tekayo63
      @tekayo63 3 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      There is Blush Mountain from Sun, Moon, and their Ultra variants, which has a power plant, does that count?

  • @zainsinclair5619
    @zainsinclair5619 3 ปีที่แล้ว +204

    Hydroelectricity is genuinely such a phenomenal invention. Here in Quebec, the entire province runs on hydro, powered by the St. Laurence river for major areas like Montreal and surrounding suburbs.

    • @kaboom-zf2bl
      @kaboom-zf2bl ปีที่แล้ว +7

      you forget the james bay dam as well ... most of that power is sent to quebec ... yet it sits in Ontario ...

    • @HmmmmmLemmeThinkNo
      @HmmmmmLemmeThinkNo 4 หลายเดือนก่อน

      Is that the reason the river is so low, now?

  • @megs3147
    @megs3147 5 ปีที่แล้ว +3315

    Electric Mountain just sounds like a Disney ride.

    • @bren106
      @bren106 5 ปีที่แล้ว +40

      Disney call the people who think up their rides Imagineers. They have nothing on the imagination of the engineering geniuses who imagined and brought this to actual reality.

    • @grindstone4910
      @grindstone4910 5 ปีที่แล้ว +37

      Or a 70s band name.

    • @MinichaudBerkimilov
      @MinichaudBerkimilov 5 ปีที่แล้ว +3

      Or a Sleep song name

    • @henski4791
      @henski4791 5 ปีที่แล้ว +18

      Electric mountain 2: Electric boogaloo

    • @Emppu_T.
      @Emppu_T. 5 ปีที่แล้ว +2

      Could be a scifi/horror movie

  • @GuanoLad
    @GuanoLad 5 ปีที่แล้ว +434

    I love it when someone speaks off the cuff in a way that's articulate, efficient, and describes their point well. I loved this video, Kevin did a brilliant job explaining it.

    • @ayoitscat
      @ayoitscat ปีที่แล้ว +2

      You see it a lot in these videos, the guests are always very well selected!

  • @oofed1980
    @oofed1980 5 ปีที่แล้ว +366

    "How can a youtube video have this much production?" Is what i ask myself everytime i see a Tom Scott video.

    • @em.1633
      @em.1633 4 ปีที่แล้ว +20

      If you want insane levels of production, watch Captain Disillusion.

    • @meliilosona5272
      @meliilosona5272 4 ปีที่แล้ว +3

      @@em.1633 oh, i wanted to say the same words, but you typed them 21 hours ago

    • @lorenzobrilli397
      @lorenzobrilli397 4 ปีที่แล้ว +4

      @@em.1633 Captain Disillusion Is Great, One of the best about Visual FX and his videos takes a lot of effort and skills that nobody have (except the professionals). But people like Tom bring us very High quality video where the "video" itself Is just a little part of the job. Overall there is more on a Tom's content than on a Captain one. But this is not critic to Captain, simply they have different targets.

    • @jeltehoekstra2952
      @jeltehoekstra2952 4 ปีที่แล้ว +6

      kurzgesagt has some videos with more then 1000 hours put into them.

    • @Jason-hz6cm
      @Jason-hz6cm 4 ปีที่แล้ว

      Rosida Andriyana alright go back to jake paul’s channel

  • @DavidS-qn3jm
    @DavidS-qn3jm 4 ปีที่แล้ว +300

    When 'Engie' was under that guy's name, I thought that was Tom's pet name for an engineer.

    • @dothmotherknowyouwearth
      @dothmotherknowyouwearth 3 ปีที่แล้ว +6

      Same, I went “ahaha engie-neer”

    • @qaday123
      @qaday123 3 ปีที่แล้ว +7

      @@dothmotherknowyouwearth tf2 intensifies

    • @dothmotherknowyouwearth
      @dothmotherknowyouwearth 3 ปีที่แล้ว +10

      @@qaday123 BUM BUM BUM
      [MEET THE ENGINEER]

    • @GamerBoy705_yt
      @GamerBoy705_yt 3 ปีที่แล้ว

      Same

    • @clxudzYT
      @clxudzYT 2 ปีที่แล้ว +3

      It's a world-wide company hahaha! I worked for them! :D

  • @ClarinoI
    @ClarinoI 4 ปีที่แล้ว +550

    I saw the title: Britain's Largest Battery Is Actually A Cake.
    Have to say I did a double take.

    • @firstlast9500
      @firstlast9500 4 ปีที่แล้ว +36

      Always has been.

    • @icarokaue7334
      @icarokaue7334 4 ปีที่แล้ว +17

      so...the cake was a lie?

    • @mickys8065
      @mickys8065 4 ปีที่แล้ว +20

      cake is a great battery, you store energy while cooking and get it back while eating

    • @hasanmuhammad6651
      @hasanmuhammad6651 3 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      🎂

    • @stephenjones1380
      @stephenjones1380 3 ปีที่แล้ว +5

      Don't you mean you did a double cake?

  • @Wordsnwood
    @Wordsnwood 5 ปีที่แล้ว +789

    Niagara Falls has something kind of like this, only they don't need to use pumps to fill it. They have large reservoirs, and and night they divert water from upstream into the reservoir, which they can draw down during the day. This helps with higher daytime electrical usage needs, but also helps with daytime tourists, as they don't want to divert so much of Niagara Falls to use for electricity that it disappoints tourists.

    • @Cynyr
      @Cynyr 5 ปีที่แล้ว +6

      funny where i seem to bump into woodworking youtubers!

    • @Wordsnwood
      @Wordsnwood 5 ปีที่แล้ว +26

      Lots of us are nerds as well as woodworkers... ;-)

    • @themadhammer3305
      @themadhammer3305 5 ปีที่แล้ว +30

      Wordsnwood (Art Mulder) there was a proposal to build a system similar to the Niagara falls one in the Scottish Highlands but it was Lobbied out of existence by people concerned it would spoil the view for tourists, the same way every big renewable energy plan is

    • @pfendi
      @pfendi 5 ปีที่แล้ว +2

      I live an hour away and never knew this! Thanks!

    • @EVILBUNNY28
      @EVILBUNNY28 5 ปีที่แล้ว +20

      Wordsnwood (Art Mulder) of course! People find it very hard to believe that they are able to divert the water entirely, completely draining Niagara Falls, and it’s completely true! They’ve done it before and there’s talk of them doing it again.

  • @Awntry
    @Awntry 5 ปีที่แล้ว +87

    Thank you, Tom! I watched this video just a week before my Advanced Human Geography paper for CIE A Level and one of the questions I was given in that paper was: "‘Producing energy from renewable resources is not the answer to meeting energy demand.’ How far do you agree?". I mentioned this lake as one of the case studies to support my argument. I got an A grade in Geography and I got my best mark from this paper.

  • @emiliofernandez7117
    @emiliofernandez7117 5 ปีที่แล้ว +718

    UNESCO has chosen Thomas Scott of Britania as a World Heritage Site, congrats

  • @HarleyAMV
    @HarleyAMV 5 ปีที่แล้ว +68

    Seeing that massive lever lifting as if weightless honestly gave me chills

  • @chairmakerPete
    @chairmakerPete 3 ปีที่แล้ว +50

    This has to be the immediate way to solve the intermittency problem of windmills and solar. It's easily understood, and notwithstanding the enormous engineering challenges (which are at least well understood) it's do-able right now.
    Scotland and Wales surely have a lot of potential here to boost their economies.

  • @VanishMe
    @VanishMe 5 ปีที่แล้ว +60

    The sound at 2:43 is really cool. It sounds like it's straight out of a sci-fi movie or something.

    • @abyssstrider2547
      @abyssstrider2547 5 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      Then you never worked with machines. Or lived near one

  • @TheVanuPhantom
    @TheVanuPhantom 5 ปีที่แล้ว +302

    I had heard of water hammer, I had also heard of hydroelectric batteries before, but I never thought about the challenges that the combination of those two would pose...
    Anyways, truly fascinating!

    • @jizzy459
      @jizzy459 5 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      mannitol.T treats Parkinson's mannitol Israel

    • @jizzy459
      @jizzy459 5 ปีที่แล้ว

      Mannitol treats Parkinson's Israel

    • @jizzy459
      @jizzy459 5 ปีที่แล้ว

      Mannitol treats Parkinson's Israel mannitol thanks

    • @jizzy459
      @jizzy459 5 ปีที่แล้ว

      Mannitol treats Parkinson's Israel mannitol

    • @jizzy459
      @jizzy459 5 ปีที่แล้ว

      Mannitol treats Parkinson's

  • @wilhelmthomsen8560
    @wilhelmthomsen8560 5 ปีที่แล้ว +127

    To whoever wondering; when I was there they told me the reason it’s underground is because it is in Snowdonia national park, which means they have to build in a way so it won’t take away the beauty from the area. The solution was to dug it down, and it is the largest underground space made by mankind. The largest hole, or space if you will, inside the mountain can fit Salisbury Cathedral in it!

    • @ThePavoReality
      @ThePavoReality 5 ปีที่แล้ว +34

      The Salisbury cathedral with its world-famous 123 metre spire?!

    • @bknesheim
      @bknesheim 5 ปีที่แล้ว +5

      Nearly all the large powerstation in Norway is built the same way.

    • @JontyLevine
      @JontyLevine 5 ปีที่แล้ว +21

      I hear the Russians love it this time of year.

    • @CaveSpiderRider
      @CaveSpiderRider 5 ปีที่แล้ว +12

      Most of the hole was already there, since they built it in a quarry.

    • @tams805
      @tams805 5 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      @@ThePavoReality Well everybody knows that now, so I guess it's famous?

  • @peteg3
    @peteg3 5 ปีที่แล้ว +9

    I went here a couple of years ago and the sheer size of the place amazed me. The valves are absolutely enourmous and to think they can move so fast at a moments notice is incredible.

  • @dy1an
    @dy1an 2 ปีที่แล้ว +17

    I visited there around 25 years ago for GCSE Geography! One of the facts I still remember about the place is that the main turbine/pump room is so big, that you could fit the entirety of St Paul's Cathedral inside it. Bearing in mind it's underground, inside a mountain, that's one massive manmade cave.

  • @otterylexa4499
    @otterylexa4499 5 ปีที่แล้ว +102

    I went there for a school trip just after it opened, and thought it was awesome. Still do.

    • @hannahlack1061
      @hannahlack1061 5 ปีที่แล้ว

      They probably said when I went but its been a couple years. When did it open?

    • @otterylexa4499
      @otterylexa4499 5 ปีที่แล้ว +4

      @@hannahlack1061 Wikipedia says 1984. I visited sometime 87 to 89, not quite sure. It was still shiny and new then, anyway.

  • @CreeperInDisguise
    @CreeperInDisguise 5 ปีที่แล้ว +249

    If this video has piqued your interest in water hammer and how, in large systems like this especially, it needs to be mitigated there's an amazing video by Grady on the youtube channel Practical Engineering that is wonderfully informative!

    • @kmg501
      @kmg501 5 ปีที่แล้ว +25

      I was going to mention Grady myself, his video on the topic is indeed interesting and was my introduction to the concept as well.

    • @cinquine1
      @cinquine1 5 ปีที่แล้ว +22

      @@Weetile Considering Tom has published a guest video by Brady before I'd say it's relevant.

    • @Helveteshit
      @Helveteshit 5 ปีที่แล้ว +20

      @@Weetile Doesn't hurt. Grady's channel is Super Super educational and Thomas isn't someone that doesn't want to educate the masses.

    • @bennylofgren3208
      @bennylofgren3208 5 ปีที่แล้ว +24

      Weetile Independent recommendations aren't "advertising"...

    • @hebl47
      @hebl47 5 ปีที่แล้ว +15

      @@Weetile what's wrong with directing people to other useful, educational videos?
      Especially when the audience is already interested in such things?

  • @snakesocks
    @snakesocks 5 ปีที่แล้ว +26

    If you find a Balrog down there, remember to hook it up to a geo-thermal generator for added power.

    • @EduardoEscarez
      @EduardoEscarez 5 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      Balrog from a common person perspective: Run away, is a demon!
      Balrog from an engineering perspective: And now, we connect the Balrog-1 thermal generator to the grid. Clean energy at a little cost. Nice!

  • @inakilbss
    @inakilbss 5 ปีที่แล้ว +916

    >Electric Mountain
    >Hats labeled "Engie"
    _More Gun intensifies_

    • @gwishart
      @gwishart 4 ปีที่แล้ว +12

      You're surprised that people in Wales label things in Welsh?

    • @HoppingSkipper
      @HoppingSkipper 4 ปีที่แล้ว +94

      @@gwishart it's a reference to tf2

    • @pcg720
      @pcg720 4 ปีที่แล้ว +69

      @@gwishart engie is a french company, it has nothing to do with the welsh language mate.

    • @SyphistPrime
      @SyphistPrime 4 ปีที่แล้ว +23

      The sound of engies turtling intensifies.

    • @manpickle7
      @manpickle7 4 ปีที่แล้ว +5

      Tf2

  • @harry979
    @harry979 4 ปีที่แล้ว +26

    I've known about this for years but it's Tom Scott so I guess I'm here for the next 4 minutes

  • @GermaphobeMusic
    @GermaphobeMusic 5 ปีที่แล้ว +812

    I have a ton of potential energy. If only I used it for anything.

    • @antlerman7644
      @antlerman7644 5 ปีที่แล้ว +32

      Relatable.

    • @nitsugadot5972
      @nitsugadot5972 5 ปีที่แล้ว +17

      NoT hOw PoTeNtIaL eNeRgY wOrKs LiKe BuT oK.

    • @GermaphobeMusic
      @GermaphobeMusic 5 ปีที่แล้ว +4

      You aren't my teacher anymore Mr. Dolan!

    • @tykuresa22
      @tykuresa22 5 ปีที่แล้ว +4

      No fap November. There’s a lot of “potential energy” you’re not the only one

    • @Soken50
      @Soken50 5 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      @@tykuresa22 if only there was a way to harness all that potential energy going to waste this november

  • @ethanroylance
    @ethanroylance 5 ปีที่แล้ว +86

    I dont think there's ever been a "things you might not know" that i do know

  • @Ed.R
    @Ed.R 5 ปีที่แล้ว +112

    For the Scottish viewers wanting to visit such a place there is Cruachan Power Station, Lochawe, Dalmally PA33 1AN

    • @maxwilson2318
      @maxwilson2318 5 ปีที่แล้ว +2

      Ed R its also home to a pine martin, and a pair of ospreys. So another reason to visit

    • @GeorgeSPAMTindle
      @GeorgeSPAMTindle 4 ปีที่แล้ว

      That is a proper power station though, not just a Peak Load Balance Station like Dinorwig is. It is a damn sight bigger too. Neither of them are batteries though.

  • @Brurgh
    @Brurgh 5 ปีที่แล้ว +32

    if you want to learn more about Water Hammer I would recommend watching Grady's video on Practical Engineering called "What is Water Hammer?"

  • @Dagowly83
    @Dagowly83 2 ปีที่แล้ว +4

    Went on a school trip here years ago and was fascinated by the simplicity of the operation. When an idea just works!

  • @Tom_Hadler
    @Tom_Hadler 5 ปีที่แล้ว +554

    Next week's episode:
    Britain's largest lake is actually a battery

    • @cantchoosethis804
      @cantchoosethis804 4 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      Tom Hadler ahaha

    • @simonhoracek8490
      @simonhoracek8490 4 ปีที่แล้ว +11

      @@herlinjm Not if you can't turn it into electricity "just by flicking a switch"

    • @brinckau
      @brinckau 4 ปีที่แล้ว +5

      @@herlinjm The lake is an accumulator ("An accumulator is an energy storage device: a device which accepts energy, stores energy, and releases energy as needed"). I'm not sure your water bottle and your saliva are.

  • @azyjmexcuseokstop924
    @azyjmexcuseokstop924 4 ปีที่แล้ว +33

    next episode : Germany's Fastest Fan Is Actually A Microwave.

    • @Becky_Cooling
      @Becky_Cooling 3 หลายเดือนก่อน

      Is that an actual place?

  • @europeansovietunion7372
    @europeansovietunion7372 5 ปีที่แล้ว +167

    "It's not rain, it's a battery charger" - British saying

    • @RAFMnBgaming
      @RAFMnBgaming 5 ปีที่แล้ว +11

      "Lovely weather we're having" -British saying, Facetious.

    • @baganatube
      @baganatube 5 ปีที่แล้ว +6

      2MW wireless charger.

  • @sahin8780
    @sahin8780 5 ปีที่แล้ว +5

    I am so grateful for the works of all of the engineers and workers there. So glad we have you

  • @aaron2571
    @aaron2571 5 ปีที่แล้ว +4

    As an ENGIE employee myself, was super hyped to see Tom do a piece on Dinorwig! Need to have myself a visit some time...

  • @warbossgegguz679
    @warbossgegguz679 5 ปีที่แล้ว +142

    Electric Mountain would be a good name for a British power metal band.

    • @derdavidspielt
      @derdavidspielt 5 ปีที่แล้ว +7

      It's the name a festival in the Alps for electronic music, but metal sounds nice :P

  • @quantum3472
    @quantum3472 5 ปีที่แล้ว +22

    I love these random videos so much! Keep up the good work !

    • @YostPeter
      @YostPeter 5 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      "Random"

  • @haydnpoole3449
    @haydnpoole3449 2 ปีที่แล้ว +5

    I remember when I was 6 my dad took me here when we were on holiday and I remember how amazed I was because I had no idea this was possible that mountain completely changed my life and got me so interested in engineering it made me become an engineer and amazes me still today.

  • @taylorhancock5834
    @taylorhancock5834 5 ปีที่แล้ว +10

    Anyone else hear of this through Citation Needed...gotta love learning things from every Tom Scott series. Anyways, great video, and an amazing power storage system.

  • @Hollowhalf17
    @Hollowhalf17 5 ปีที่แล้ว +6

    How the hell are these videos so entertaining. Literally always happy to watch one.

  • @thegreenmadow
    @thegreenmadow 5 ปีที่แล้ว +7

    I've recently watched one of your older videos (The Problem with Renewable Energy (and how we're fixing it)), and the new video fits so seamless to the message of the old video, except for the fact, that you've predicted a completly diffrent solution how we should deal with storage problems and renewable energy.
    Anyway, great video, keep going!

    • @ExEBoss
      @ExEBoss 5 ปีที่แล้ว

      *+thegreenmadow* The thing is that it takes minutes for a hydroelectric dam to kick in and start generating power, by which point the grid imbalance would have already tripped breakers and caused issues, which is what the large spinning steel turbines help mitigate.
      One possible solution is to have computerised batteries handle the spikes of energy consumption in between the times while the hydroelectric dam valves open or close (which takes time to mitigate the water hammer issue).

    • @MikeRees
      @MikeRees 5 ปีที่แล้ว

      Electric Mountain takes like 10-30 seconds to kick in, as per this very video (when I went to visit they said it averages at 18 seconds) and provides power at such a level that its use is easily predicted and accounted for.

  • @Iggywiggy.
    @Iggywiggy. 5 ปีที่แล้ว +8

    This an absolutely spectacular video Tom. It is both really cool and really educational. Please never stop making videos like this.

  • @jacobmartin8332
    @jacobmartin8332 5 ปีที่แล้ว +11

    Dang. All it takes is one video to remind how freaking awesome Tom Scott is.

  • @zapfanzapfan
    @zapfanzapfan 4 ปีที่แล้ว +271

    The lake is just for show, the real power source is the Balrog :-)

    • @benjamincutts6949
      @benjamincutts6949 4 ปีที่แล้ว +4

      That's what I was looking for

    • @58x
      @58x 3 ปีที่แล้ว +5

      YOU SHALL NOT.... wait buddy can u heat up my pool?

    • @gloriascientiae7435
      @gloriascientiae7435 3 ปีที่แล้ว +5

      nah thats just joking, we all know the real power source is within ourselves

    • @58x
      @58x 3 ปีที่แล้ว +6

      @@gloriascientiae7435 What are you? A proffessional Motivator ^^

    • @cucumbalover4569
      @cucumbalover4569 3 ปีที่แล้ว +8

      The real power source was the friends we made along the way.

  • @jehugarcia
    @jehugarcia 5 ปีที่แล้ว +48

    Hell yeah, huge battery, and kind of never degrades as long as you maintain the mechanicals and the water level.

    • @Goblinoiddoof
      @Goblinoiddoof 3 ปีที่แล้ว

      And all in a country a load of people dunno abt

    • @RRW359
      @RRW359 2 ปีที่แล้ว

      Erosion?

    • @FuS3D86
      @FuS3D86 2 ปีที่แล้ว

      You could say the same for your car battery if you kept topping up the acid.

    • @debbiehenri345
      @debbiehenri345 ปีที่แล้ว

      All electrical systems - no matter whether connected to the National Grid or independent require regular expert mechanical maintenance (or do you think nuclear power stations, solar panel farms, and wind turbines look after themselves?)
      As for the water level - it's Wales!
      I don't think I've ever visited Wales and it's not rained at least one point in the day. Considering it's described as 'a rainy bit' of Wales, I should guess that it is one of those regions of the British Isles that receives a peculiarly high degree of rainfall (like Eskdalemuir in Scotland and practically all of Ireland.
      It's quite probable that, unless climate change really makes significant changes to the British climate on a permanent scale (ie, we turn into a desert or frozen tundra), then I think we can be fairly sure that the liquid water level in this particular 'battery' will be just fine.
      Also, I'll be surprised if the water in the lake used in this battery is not more, much much more than required for daily operations. I doubt very much that the lake drains completely with each manoeuvre. So, more than enough water.
      Also, don't be such a downer. You sound like my son, for goodness sake. Think about your mum and dad for a moment and how it feels for them to hear you being so negative about nothing at all. It drives us mad.

  • @benoitbvg2888
    @benoitbvg2888 5 ปีที่แล้ว +292

    I was expecting a huge hole filled with acid.
    I'm a bit underwhelmed.
    Cool bilingual safety signs, though.

    • @demawoods2679
      @demawoods2679 5 ปีที่แล้ว +2

      Benoit Bvg what is the top language?

    • @DissociatedWomenIncorporated
      @DissociatedWomenIncorporated 5 ปีที่แล้ว +22

      @@demawoods2679, Welsh. Things in Wales tend to be dual language.

    • @benoitbvg2888
      @benoitbvg2888 5 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      @@demawoods2679 Welsh/Gaelic i presume.

    • @qwertyTRiG
      @qwertyTRiG 5 ปีที่แล้ว +24

      @@benoitbvg2888 Welsh is not a Gaelic language. The Gaelic languages are Irish, Scots Gaelic, and Manx. Welsh is a cousin: the other side of the Celtic family, along with Breton and Cornish.

    • @TheLightningZap
      @TheLightningZap 5 ปีที่แล้ว +5

      I was expecting a lake with metal on the sides and an electrolyte liquid in the lake

  • @dominicmaloney
    @dominicmaloney 4 ปีที่แล้ว +19

    I've been there and I didnt even realise until a minute in wtf that brought back some old memories

  • @aqo911
    @aqo911 5 ปีที่แล้ว +4

    There's something like this in Missouri USA called the Taum Sauk Hydroelectric Power Station. It's used for the same purpose in very nearly the same way. Owned AmerenAE, if I recall. Years ago there was a catastrophic failure of the upper reservoir which caused the devastation of homes and an entire national park. It's an interesting tale.

  • @maxnye5693
    @maxnye5693 4 ปีที่แล้ว +2

    What I love about this power station, is that for other renewable sources, like wind and solar, they're not always constant, but in north Wales, it's always raining at least three times a week

  • @annakeye
    @annakeye 5 ปีที่แล้ว +5

    *+Tom Scott*
    Wow Tom, thanks so much for sharing this. I love this stuff. You keep sharing little bits of what keeps our world running and although this is in the U.K.
    it's still relevant to other nations of the commonwealth (New Zealand, in this case), and I just love the engineering of such spaces. My dad (deceased) worked on the Roxburgh Dam here in New Zealand and I have visited a lot of hydro projects here. From a time when governments built such places and we, as taxpayers and citizens, were proud of such achievements. Now corporations make money off the back of such efforts and I dread to think what would happen if they were left to give a maximum shareholder return at the lowest price they deem possible. (sigh)

  • @Skip6235
    @Skip6235 5 ปีที่แล้ว +20

    This looks like the coolest place on the planet!! I want to work there!!!

  • @niklaspilot
    @niklaspilot 5 ปีที่แล้ว +17

    Grady from Practical Engineering has some great videos on Water Hammer!

  • @fscreations7373
    @fscreations7373 5 ปีที่แล้ว +83

    Gosh engineers are flipping clever

  • @JamesMorfa
    @JamesMorfa 5 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    Dinorwig is such a cool place. It gets bonus points because the National Slate Museum is next door (nowhere near as dull as it sounds, trust me), there are some awesome ruins in the old quarry workings above AND there's a lovely castle on the opposite shore. I could spend hours here. :)

  • @demosth3nes870
    @demosth3nes870 ปีที่แล้ว +3

    I love how you can see how cool Tom feels when he says “Electric Mountain”

  • @tommihommi1
    @tommihommi1 5 ปีที่แล้ว +16

    Two Jiggawatts! Great Scott!

  • @sandfield19
    @sandfield19 4 ปีที่แล้ว +3

    Discovered your channel last week been watching the backlog since. Amazing stuff really interesting

  • @tCatMane
    @tCatMane 5 ปีที่แล้ว +244

    water you on about mate

    • @TheCimbrianBull
      @TheCimbrianBull 5 ปีที่แล้ว +2

      *ba dum tss!*🥁 😂

    • @MrMsa973
      @MrMsa973 5 ปีที่แล้ว +2

      *NUTT*

    • @anthony9thompson
      @anthony9thompson 5 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      Don’t be such a drip

    • @MatrixExpress
      @MatrixExpress 5 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      It is a big "leeky" bucket that makes money .. a Monster liquid asset ;-)

    • @scythal
      @scythal 4 ปีที่แล้ว

      nice wetter we're having, innit?

  • @BarelySentientBraincell
    @BarelySentientBraincell 4 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    We have a similar facility in Czechia. It's called Dlouhé Stráně. I've been there two times. Once on an excursion and once just on a hike and this place just blew my mind. Such a marvel of modern engineering. Also notable fact is that is's built in the middle of protected landscape area, so most of this aparature is very well hidden underground. The only visible parts are the lake on top of the mountain, the dam down in the valley, an entrance into the underground facility and unconspicuous mountain hut, which is the administration building and powerlines. Even the electric lines are painted green and the isolators are made of clear glass so they don't disturb the landscape as much.

  • @TheBanana93
    @TheBanana93 5 ปีที่แล้ว +2

    I remember going here as a kid! We were meant to go up mount snowdon that day but the weather didn't allow it and thank god for that! This place was way more awesome than some mountain!

  • @koosnaamloos
    @koosnaamloos 5 ปีที่แล้ว +437

    Rain the most British thing ever.

    • @ducttaperd
      @ducttaperd 5 ปีที่แล้ว +19

      ever been to the netherlands? we have some great rain down here

    • @mgamesmc
      @mgamesmc 5 ปีที่แล้ว +5

      @@ducttaperd G E K O L O N I S E E R D

    • @rollstuhlmeister
      @rollstuhlmeister 5 ปีที่แล้ว +2

      but no mountains

    • @ducttaperd
      @ducttaperd 5 ปีที่แล้ว

      @@rollstuhlmeister true true

    • @koosnaamloos
      @koosnaamloos 5 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      mgames Z E G M A K K E R

  • @thecommabandit
    @thecommabandit 5 ปีที่แล้ว +28

    "In a rainy part of Wales" Joke's on you, Tom, all of it's rainy.

  • @MrSaemichlaus
    @MrSaemichlaus 4 ปีที่แล้ว +81

    If you ever feel useless, hold a minute of silence for all solar panels in Britain.

    • @calvinscarvings.66
      @calvinscarvings.66 3 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      And aquamans boat and sonics car

    • @BeavisT-800
      @BeavisT-800 3 ปีที่แล้ว

      You don't need direct uv rays to produce energy, although you can produce a lot more for that matter

  • @frogdude1337
    @frogdude1337 2 ปีที่แล้ว +2

    It is north of snowdon and the little town of llanberis. It is also next to the national slate museum if anybody wants to take a look

  • @johnkeepin7527
    @johnkeepin7527 4 ปีที่แล้ว +2

    Well presented. I was already aware of this one. I think the system has changed a fair bit since it was originally built, especially with the advent of significant wind and solar generation. What’s not mentioned is that one of it’s ‘near neighbours’ is a redundant power station - Trawsfynedd, an old pair of Magnox reactors. Whether that site will ever be redeveloped along the lines of Hinkley Point C or not is uncertain. It may have been that hydro storage was helpful in the past when the old nuclear station was operational, as they were not able to cope with rapid changes. Probably depends on the market value (of power station output), but most of those like to run at ‘base load’, and it could be that a certain amount of it’s ‘surplus’ output was temporarily stored in Dinorwig, in effect.

    • @AlldaylongRock
      @AlldaylongRock ปีที่แล้ว

      Which is probably the best way to Manage a power grid. Have a reliable base, and use stuff like pumped storage and normal Hydro for managing peaks.
      This way, you won't be left in the dark if there's a week long Dunkelflaute.

  • @frowlinian8175
    @frowlinian8175 5 ปีที่แล้ว +217

    Electric Mountain... Isnt that where Zapdos is?

    • @KameKame27
      @KameKame27 5 ปีที่แล้ว +19

      @@Weetile The mountain IS a power plant...

    • @trentons2000
      @trentons2000 5 ปีที่แล้ว +13

      I mean
      He’s on Mount Thunder in mystery dungeon. Soooo, I guess?

    • @frowlinian8175
      @frowlinian8175 5 ปีที่แล้ว +2

      @@KameKame27 zapdos irl confirmed

    • @lawrencecalablaster568
      @lawrencecalablaster568 5 ปีที่แล้ว +2

      Power Station

    • @ahappycoder2925
      @ahappycoder2925 5 ปีที่แล้ว

      Go back to the depths the underworld trump

  • @Sofus.
    @Sofus. 5 ปีที่แล้ว +169

    Ha Denmark's Largest Battery Is Actually Norway.

    • @bennylofgren3208
      @bennylofgren3208 5 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      Sofus :-D !!!

    • @beatrix1120
      @beatrix1120 5 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      Nice prof pic

    • @Sofus.
      @Sofus. 5 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      @@beatrix1120 Thanks, the little guy has been dead for many years :(

    • @jegkompletson1698
      @jegkompletson1698 5 ปีที่แล้ว +2

      @@Sofus. nice battery, I personally love it.

    • @maxpower19711
      @maxpower19711 5 ปีที่แล้ว +6

      Sofus
      “Norway: the left testicle in the frigid sea penis that is Scandinavia”- John Oliver.

  • @Tarkin15
    @Tarkin15 5 ปีที่แล้ว +3

    We used to have a cottage on the other side of this mountain, near Marchlyn Mawr lake.
    One time we went for a walk up that way and got kicked out quite quickly by security, I'd imagine the lake can be quite dangerous when the water is being drained.

  • @veganovus
    @veganovus 5 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    Thanks for this video Tom, you always have a great way of explaining things and me understanding.
    I recently started working at an energy company that has diesel engines, gas engines and batteries that also provide fast response for National Grid as well as STOR - seeing this video really made my day as I'm still trying to get to grips with how it all works.

  • @janitabyrne5449
    @janitabyrne5449 5 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    This makes my little engineering heart explode. So cool. I've been at a water treatment plant when a valve shut too fast - water hammer is intense!

  • @trippydrew8492
    @trippydrew8492 5 ปีที่แล้ว +4

    "Electric mountain" sounds like it is the lair of a Scoobie-doo villain! I love it!

  • @himaro101
    @himaro101 5 ปีที่แล้ว +34

    They do tours through this. I dragged my long suffering partner through it a while back. To me, it's genuinely interesting. Engineering at its finest.

    • @jahinzee
      @jahinzee 2 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      That's a long partner!

    • @alainportant6412
      @alainportant6412 2 ปีที่แล้ว

      @@jahinzee what is a long suffering partner ? is he talking about his pheenis ?

    • @toasterhavingabath6980
      @toasterhavingabath6980 10 หลายเดือนก่อน

      they Did

  • @belowthelaw9607
    @belowthelaw9607 3 ปีที่แล้ว +3

    I like how Tom referred to a swimming pool as if it were a standard unit of measurement.

  • @PhilipBallGarry
    @PhilipBallGarry ปีที่แล้ว +1

    Fascinating stuff! The Dinorwig surge pool can be seen on google maps just down the mountain, to the SW of Marchlyn Mawr

  • @youcrackmeupdude
    @youcrackmeupdude 5 ปีที่แล้ว

    The Blenheim-Gilboa Pumped Storage Power Project has been operating since July 1973. It's a very scenic location and Mine Kill State Park is a great place to visit.
    In 1965 there was a proposal to build a plant using the Hudson River and Storm King Mountain in Cornwall, NY. A lawsuit prevented the construction and led to NEPA & SEQRA. We studied that lawsuit in high school.

  • @ppppppqqqppp
    @ppppppqqqppp 5 ปีที่แล้ว +8

    Honestly the most impressive part of this place is that someone found a use for wales.

  • @hedgetwentyfour2708
    @hedgetwentyfour2708 5 ปีที่แล้ว +11

    Rainy bit of Wales, slight tautology there I should think :p

  • @humanrightsadvocate
    @humanrightsadvocate 4 ปีที่แล้ว +6

    "Great Scott!" - Doc (Back to the Future)

  • @hannahlack1061
    @hannahlack1061 5 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    A couple years ago we went on holiday in Wales and stayed in Llanberis which is right next to electric mountain. It was a really cool experience in there and the insight came in use when I was studying A level geography.

  • @rainbowvein
    @rainbowvein 5 ปีที่แล้ว

    Never get bored of this - been a number of times and will return once it opens again in 2019 - always fascinates me. Thank you for giving me another insight into its workings!

  • @lavahawk
    @lavahawk 5 ปีที่แล้ว +20

    Wow that's shocking

  • @TheLK641
    @TheLK641 5 ปีที่แล้ว +40

    Wait wait wait... the British electricity grid works because of a battery owned and operated by Engie ? But... Engie is the former GDF, aka the French public gas system (that got privatised for some obscure reasons), and it is still partially owned by the French government. So the British grid is owned by the French. After centuries of war and diplomacy, we finally did it, we own England ! Victory at last !

    • @bennylofgren3208
      @bennylofgren3208 5 ปีที่แล้ว +10

      So whenever there is someone on the tv making fun of the French there will be a sudden glitch in the power grid. 😃👍

    • @dogphlap6749
      @dogphlap6749 5 ปีที่แล้ว

      It's true the French have finally won but the British will always have Agincourt (349 years after that unfortunate event at Hastings).

    • @harrysmall8705
      @harrysmall8705 5 ปีที่แล้ว +5

      It is the facility that they own not the grid itself.

    • @dougie8747
      @dougie8747 5 ปีที่แล้ว +8

      Nationalisation is bad except when it's foreign nations apparently.

    • @tommydoez
      @tommydoez 5 ปีที่แล้ว +2

      Well after Britain saved French ass twice in a century, the least France can do is to pay back Britain in the form of the LARGEST BATTERY EVERRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR

  • @astrobot3000
    @astrobot3000 5 ปีที่แล้ว +86

    0:37
    Kevin Dibble
    Engie
    oh wait never mind I thought that was a misspelling of engineer but then I saw his helmet

    • @alyx6427
      @alyx6427 4 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      Astrobot probably engineer in welsh

    • @bengreen3794
      @bengreen3794 4 ปีที่แล้ว +3

      @@alyx6427 no its a company

    • @bengreen3794
      @bengreen3794 4 ปีที่แล้ว

      You saw his helmet? TH-cam is family friendly.

  • @greedycapitalist8590
    @greedycapitalist8590 5 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    Not too far from Mount Snowdon, it's a good place to visit if you're in the area. I went on a tour of it a few years ago, it's an amazing place.

  • @bcn1gh7h4wk
    @bcn1gh7h4wk 5 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    the setup of exposed piping and heavy machinery, and crude mountain rock, reminds me a bit of TF2 and it's level design.
    you know, circa 1970's technology, underground bunkers, missile silos, turbines and control rooms..... hell, you even have Engies

  • @m1rr0rdemon
    @m1rr0rdemon 4 ปีที่แล้ว +5

    When I was younger and saw signs for this in Wales I thought it was a theme park 🤦

  • @Benjy52
    @Benjy52 4 ปีที่แล้ว +5

    0:39 *”Engie”*
    Getting Team Fortress 2 flashbacks

  • @billclinton3862
    @billclinton3862 4 ปีที่แล้ว +3

    Fun fact : This was one of the main power stations that kept wales completely on renewable energy for 1 day

    • @GeorgeSPAMTindle
      @GeorgeSPAMTindle 4 ปีที่แล้ว

      It isn't a renewable source though, so that nullifies the claim somewhat.

  • @stuartelms3005
    @stuartelms3005 3 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    You should have your own TV programme. Very informative, well done.

  • @OmarOmar-jt6cm
    @OmarOmar-jt6cm 5 ปีที่แล้ว

    One of my favourite channel on TH-cam. Thank you

  • @Crypt1cmyst1c
    @Crypt1cmyst1c 4 ปีที่แล้ว +5

    I've thought about this sort of system before used in somewhere coastal where solar pumps water to a reservoir and you generate hydro to power the grid. solar creates a lot of excess energy during the day but nothing at night, so how do you store all that energy for night use? here you go.

    • @richardoakley8800
      @richardoakley8800 4 ปีที่แล้ว

      That idea has been researched.. but was stopped by the eco squirrel huggers

    • @ThreadBomb
      @ThreadBomb 4 ปีที่แล้ว

      @@richardoakley8800 Citation?

  • @colinedwards7250
    @colinedwards7250 5 ปีที่แล้ว +7

    I assume that the rain is bonus energy. Is it significant and is any attempt made to gather it from a wider area?

    • @G1NZOU
      @G1NZOU 5 ปีที่แล้ว

      There is a slight catchment in the above reservoir of Marchlyn Maur, however they don't want to extend that catchment area in case it effects the surrounding environment, keep in mind this is in Snowdonia National Park which has multiple rare species of flora and fauna which rely on the specific climate, which includes the Snowdonia high amount of rainfall, to divert water and deny it for wildlife on the rest of the mountain would be detrimental.

  • @BobMcCoy
    @BobMcCoy 5 ปีที่แล้ว +389

    *The sun is a deadly laser battery*

    • @angelgames9351
      @angelgames9351 5 ปีที่แล้ว +33

      Not anymore there’s a blanket

    • @MisterAppleEsq
      @MisterAppleEsq 5 ปีที่แล้ว +20

      +@@Weetile He's still around.

    • @All4Tanuki
      @All4Tanuki 5 ปีที่แล้ว +5

      Weetile What, did you unsubscribe? He's still releasing music regularly

    • @PanicProvisions
      @PanicProvisions 5 ปีที่แล้ว +6

      I know it's a quote, but the sun is more akin to a generator than a battery.

    • @MrGreatplum
      @MrGreatplum 5 ปีที่แล้ว +13

      You could make a religion out of this...

  • @dudmanjohn
    @dudmanjohn 3 ปีที่แล้ว

    In the late 1960s I worked as a photographer in a a small design studio in the west end of London. One of our clients was the Dinorwig slate quarry. We produced a regular newsletter / press release for them which was sent to architects and architectural journals. I recall a commission to visit the Tower of London to photograph a slate slab on which a statue was mounted - perhaps installed to commemorate Charles' investiture as Prince of Wales. I don't recall and have never been back.
    In 1969 I answered the phone in the studio. Mr Edwards from the quarry was on the line to say the quarry was shutting down. 350 people lost their jobs.

  • @ElwoodEBlues
    @ElwoodEBlues ปีที่แล้ว

    Thank you for this interesting video. I always believed that the two big hydropower stations of Hårspranget/Northern Sweden and Tonstad/Southern Norway were the biggest in Europe (each of them can deliver about 900MW), but one is as powerful as both of them combined. The major difference is that this is pumped storage while the mentioned Scandinavian plants are hydropower, but not pumped storage.
    Like this one the two Scandinavian plants are both completely hidden inside the mountains.