GreenPower are delighted to announce the successful commissioning of their Carie hydro scheme in Perthshire. This 500kW hydro scheme is located on the Carie Burn on the south side of Loch Rannoch, near the Kilvrecht Campsite. It is now generating and will provide enough power to supply the needs of over 350 homes. The developer of the project, GreenPower, is a Scottish based renewable energy company.
Project Manager Emmet McLaughlin said “The early engagement with local stakeholders and regulators was paramount to getting Carie over the line. The rain we had this summer was challenging at times but thankfully we are now in a position to harness the rain and generate some clean green energy”.
The scheme was delivered using a specialist hydro engineering business based in Crieff, environmental advisers from Falkirk, a civil engineering contractor from Inverness and the British made turbine came from Cumbria. A great example of how UK companies are at the forefront of the renewables revolution that has transformed how our electricity is being generated.
The owner and CEO Rob Forrest said “We have invested over £3 million pounds in the Carie project which demonstrates our long term commitment to delivering clean energy that will help to reduce the UK’s reliance on fossil fuels”.
Despite the Governments recent pronouncements to reduce support for renewable energy generation in the UK, the rest of Europe and world-wide are continuing to embrace renewable technology and see it as playing a significant role in offsetting carbon emissions as well as bringing down the whole sale cost of electricity.
GreenPower will continue to work with landowners and local communities who want to generate green energy from their burns or rivers.
Additional information:
- There are four intake structures and a penstock (pipeline) stretching some 2.9km.
- The Carie project is on Forestry Commission land.
- GreenPower was formed in 2000 and has successfully developed 270 MW of renewable energy
- In order to stimulate local renewable energy generation, the Government established a Feed in Tariff (FiT) to provide certainty to those developing renewable energy projects that there was a market for their energy. This scheme is currently out for consultation.
