24th Feb 2006 14:05
Scottish & Southern Energy PLC24 February 2006 THE PRIME MINISTER AND SCOTLAND'S FIRST MINISTER START CONSTRUCTION WORK ATSSE'S £140 MILLION GLENDOE HYDRO-ELECTRIC SCHEME The Prime Minister, Tony Blair and Scotland's First Minister, Jack McConnell,today visited Loch Ness to mark the start of construction work at Scottish andSouthern Energy's (SSE) £140m Glendoe hydro-electric scheme near Fort Augustus.With an installed capacity of around 100MW (megawatts), Glendoe will beScotland's first conventional large-scale hydro-electric power station for 50years. The Prime Minister pressed the button which led to a controlled explosion on thehillside adjacent to the loch. The explosion was the first step in thedevelopment of the tunnels which will allow water from a new reservoir, whichwill be built over 600m above Loch Ness, to reach an underground power stationnear the south east corner of the loch before being discharged into the lochitself. The new power station will be able to generate enough green electricity to poweralmost 250,000 homes when operating at full capacity. Up to 400 jobs will becreated during the construction phase and the power station is expected to begenerating electricity commercially from the winter of 2008/09. Later, the Prime Minister and the First Minister visited SSE's Foyers PowerStation, on the south shore of Loch Ness, following a £7m refurbishment of thestation's control systems. They also presented pupils of Kilchuimen Primary School, Fort Augustus, with arooftop wind turbine designed, developed and manufactured by the Edinburgh-basedSwift Turbines, and pupils of Foyers Primary School with a fund from SSE forenvironmental improvements to their school. The Prime Minister and the First Minister also met representatives of Scotland'senergy sector to discuss the key issues facing renewable and low carbon energyin Scotland and the opportunities which the current review of energy policy inthe UK provides to ensure that the industry in Scotland can fulfil itspotential. Ian Marchant, Chief Executive of SSE, said: "Glendoe complements SSE'sinvestment in refurbishing our existing hydro stations, in onshore wind energyand in biomass. It also complements our other interests in offshore wind, marineenergy, micro generation and carbon capture and demonstrates that Scotland is atthe leading edge of renewable energy developments in the UK." Enquiries to:Scottish and Southern EnergyAlan Young, Director of Corporate Communications 0870 900 0410Denis Kerby, Media and Investor Relations Manager 0870 900 0410 This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock ExchangeRelated Shares:
SSE