Plans have been approved to modernise the Cruachan Power Station, a hydroelectric pumped storage plant built inside a hollowed-out mountain in Scotland, owned by Drax.
Control system builders ITI will undertake the design, installation and commissioning of the upgrade at Cruachan’s four units.
ITI installed the current control system in 1987 and built the control system to operate other Drax-owned assets at Lanark and Galloway from an interface in Cruachan’s underground cavern.
Ian Kinnaird, Drax’s head of hydro, said: “As the country continues to decarbonise, the station’s flexibility has never been more important. This upgrade will ensure the Hollow Mountain can deliver the fast, flexible power that hundreds of thousands of homes and businesses rely on for many decades to come.”
Last month Cruachan became the first power station in Britain to offer critical system support services to the National Grid when it signed a contract with National Grid Electricity System Operator.
The hydro plant pumps water from Loch Awe using reversible turbines into an upper reservoir on the mountainside to store excess power from the grid. When released the water passes through the turbines to generate power in under one minute to assist with stabilising on demand.