7th Jan 2008 12:55
Scottish & Southern Energy PLC07 January 2008 COMPLETION OF KEY PHASE OF GLENDOE HYDRO ELECTRIC PROJECT The development of the large-scale hydro electric scheme by Scottish andSouthern Energy plc ("SSE"), at Glendoe near Loch Ness, has completed asignificant phase with the re-emergence from under ground of the 200 metre longtunnel boring machine (TBM). This means that the tunnelling phase of theproject, which began in September 2006 when the TBM broke into the hillside forthe first time, has been completed. In the 16 months of almost non-stop tunnelling, the TBM has created eightkilometres of tunnels and climbed over 600 metres in height. Development of thetunnels will allow water from the new reservoir, being built over 600 metresabove Loch Ness, to reach the under ground power station near the south eastcorner of the loch before being discharged into the loch itself. With an installed capacity of around 100MW (megawatts), Glendoe will beScotland's second largest conventional hydro electric station and the firstlarge-scale station to be built since 1957. Its development is requiringinvestment by SSE of over £140m, and it remains on schedule to be able togenerate electricity in the first part of 2009. The power station will producearound 180 million units of electricity in a year of average rainfall and whensynchronised will be able to start generating electricity at full capacity in 30seconds. Ian Marchant, Chief Executive of SSE, said: "The completion of this phase of the Glendoe development is significant. It is aunique, large and complex project and I am delighted with the progress that isbeing made. Effective delivery of major projects is of growing importance toSSE, especially in the light of our agreement to acquire Airtricity, and thesuccess so far of Glendoe bodes well for other investment projects. There is,however, still much work to do at Glendoe and the priority is to get it donesafely and efficiently." Note: On Friday 4 January 2008, SSE announced that it had entered into anagreement to acquire Airtricity Holdings Limited, the Dublin based renewableenergy company. This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock ExchangeRelated Shares:
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