WATCH: Hydro scheme built by a Laid father and son makes shortlist for prestigious green award
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A HYDRO scheme constructed by a father and son in north-west Sutherland is in the running for a green energy award.
The Allt an Lagain scheme at Laid, built by Hugh and Michael Maclellan, has been shortlisted in the sustainable development category of the Scottish Green Energy Awards, run by Scottish Renewables.
The Maclellans overcame a number of obstacles in order to bring the privately-funded 95kw project on the Allt an Lagain river in Laid to fruition.
Michael said: “The proposal was objected to by the landowner but supported by the local community. After a year of crofting legal work we obtained an apportionment consent following planning consent. We then decrofted the scheme to enable us to build the project.”
Construction work started in 2019 and took 15 months to complete – a 960-metre long pipeline had to be laid underground.
“We commissioned the hydro scheme days after the national lockdown was announced,” said Michael. “Gilkes, the commissioning engineers travelled in a ‘bubble’ from their self-catering accommodation to the site. To miss the energisation date would have been a great risk to our energy subsidy mechanism so we were very relieved when we eventually went live with power exports.”
All the power is exported to the National Grid and the scheme is capable of powering most of the north-west corner in the parish of Durness.
Michael continued: “We are delighted with the performance aspects and the energy yield is proving to be as expected. We have been fully operational for 18 months with 99.5 per cent availability. We’re very proud to be finalists in the energy awards.”
Allt an Lagain is up against the £20 million heat pump development at Queens Quay, Glasgow, and the 600 megawatt, £550m prospective Red John pumped storage hydro scheme above Loch Ness.
A black-tie awards ceremony will take place in-person in Edinburgh on December 2. Scottish Renewables chief executive Claire Mack said she was “truly astounded at the quality of the nominations”.
Click here for more information on the 2021 awards
