RSPB Scotland Corrimony has generated its first electricity from a new hydropower project. Alexa Morrison, our climate and energy senior policy officer, fills us in. 

Hydropower is here!


We are very pleased to announce that a new hydropower project at RSPB Scotland Corrimony is now up and running! Corrimony joins a number of our reserves now hosting small-scale renewables technologies, such as our 1MW wind turbine at our UK headquarters, all part of our commitment to act on climate change and demonstrate how we can develop renewable energy in harmony with nature.

RSPB Scotland Corrimony is 8 miles West of Loch Ness, made up of moorland and native pine woodland, amazing views and a real sense of tranquility.  It is home to some very special birds, including the Scottish crossbill, crested tit, black grouse and golden eagle.  It is also now home to a 500kW hydro scheme, expected to generate 1,780 MWh electricity a year – more than double RSPB Scotland’s annual usage. In its first five days, it has generated enough power to boil 6,666 kettles! A few years in the planning, the project was developed by DHG Hydro Ltd, with close input by RSPB Scotland, and earlier this year was taken over by developers Hydropol and Renfin, who specialise in small and medium sized hydro power.  

At RSPB we know that renewable energy in the wrong place can harm wildlife, but we also know that climate change is one of the greatest threats to nature.  We need high levels of renewable energy – but sited in the right places. Our 2050 Energy Vision launched last year explained one way to make this happen at UK level, using mapping to identify sites with the least risk to wildlife.  But how do we translate that into practice, and how do we as a wildlife organisation take action?  We’ve blogged before about how we work with developers to make sure that nature is protected and helped by their projects; and we’ve also done it on our own reserves with wind turbines and solar panels. Now we have our first hydro scheme! 

Water is taken out of the river Enrick at a new weir, travels down a 1 mile pipe to the power house, turns the turbine to generate electricity, then is returned to the river.  The weir means that water is only removed when the water level is high enough – important for the bryophytes that live by the riverside and depend on damp surroundings. There also needed to be some tree felling – which has created some open habitat within the woodland, encouraging the spread of some important species such as spotted flycatcher and many kinds of dragonflies.  The work was planned to avoid disturbing species at sensitive times and to avoid sensitive areas.  In some cases – for example wood ant nests – we couldn’t avoid them, so had to relocate the nest instead.

Now the installation is completed: the turbine has started generating electricity and peace and quiet has returned to the reserve, allowing wildlife to settle back in.  For now, there is a lot of bare soil, but plants are already starting to recolonise.  By next summer, it will be hard to tell that anything has changed, unless you visit the water intake and see for yourself the engineering that enables a river to power hundreds of houses.

Amazingly for such a peaceful place, this isn’t the first time the reserve has accommodated renewable energy.  There are still remnants of a Victorian hydro scheme by the waterfall, where you can even see the powerhouse reclaimed by the vegetation from when the reserve was parkland for the Corrimony estate.  More recently, the reserve became host to seven pylons on the Beauly-Denny line, transporting wind energy from the north to consumers in the central belt.  There is also a five turbine wind farm on adjacent land, and the hydro scheme shares a grid connection with two neighbouring schemes, saving money by working together.

Corrimony shows that it really is possible to produce renewable electricity in harmony with nature, even in the most remote places. This hydro scheme may be a first for RSPB Scotland, but our approach certainly isn’t: we always aim to work collaboratively with developers to help renewables in the right places come to fruition, so that what’s good for the climate is also good for nature