I had the luck to visit this as a child, before all the tourist side of it was shut down. I remember taking the bus past the giant turbine hall. A few facts I can remember:<p>1. Carol Vorderman did a lot of the engineering calculations, before she started on Countdown (probably only relevant to the UK lot).<p>2. They couldn't run powerlines from the facility to the grid as it's an AONB so they had to run them underground at a cost of £1M per mile for however many miles.<p>Great place along with Sellafield and the wind turbines in Norfolk for a kid to visit.
Not stated in the article: There are very few places in the world with two large lakes, separated by a lot of height and not much distance.<p>Wherever that happens, it is probably financially a good idea to build one of these.<p>But that geography is really rather rare, so the rest of the world will probably have to use gas peaker plants (environment-killing) or battery storage (expensive).
The Kemano generating station in British Columbia was built in the 1950s to supply power to an aluminum smelter. They hollowed out a mountain to drop a river through turbines. It’s an incredible marvel of engineering.<p><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kemano_Generating_Station" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kemano_Generating_Station</a>
Massachusetts has a pumped storage station in the Berkshires, Bear Swamp. [1] As of a few years ago they had an underground visitor's center with a scale model and lots of info. Not sure whether it's open anymore though.<p>[1] <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bear_Swamp_Hydroelectric_Power_Station" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bear_Swamp_Hydroelectric_Power...</a>
I <i>think</i> it was someone on the Volts podcast[1], either David Roberts or a guest, who made the point (I'm paraphrasing) that one of the most helpful things a regular person can do is start to think of solar arrays or windmills as beautiful; if building them isn't "climate but eyesore" but rather a "climate and beauty" proposition, they are much more likely to get built.<p>1: <a href="https://www.volts.wtf" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://www.volts.wtf</a>
Though not as technologically impressive, there are quite a few rather "simple" little hydroelectric dams tucked back in the Allegheny Mountains of the eastern USA. They are a marvel to see, worth seeking out if you are driving anywhere near them.<p>Cheoah Dam is on the infamous Tail of the Dragon in TN, and there's a spot where you can pull over and see the whole thing below, it's such an inspiring thing.
Czech Republic also has a pumped-storage plant in Dlouhé stráně[0]. It's also in a protected landscape and in my opinion looks amazing [1], especially when you descend from Praděd. It's one of the only large scale industrial projects in Czech Republic that is on a world-class level.<p>[0]<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dlouh%C3%A9_str%C3%A1n%C4%9B_Hydro_Power_Plant" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dlouh%C3%A9_str%C3%A1n%C4%9B_H...</a><p>[1]<a href="http://turystyka.studentnews.pl/img/wo/3/58/Elektrownia-wodna-Dlouhe-Strane-Fot-Libor-obrazek_duzy_4053358.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer">http://turystyka.studentnews.pl/img/wo/3/58/Elektrownia-wodn...</a>
> So, after all those television-watching Britons go to bed, Dinorwig’s generators are run backwards.<p>> It’s a remarkably efficient process, with about 75% of the energy available for reuse.<p>Not an (hardware) engineer, so wondering: are turbines typically efficient running <i>both</i> ways? Or would a turbine in this scenario have tradeoffs compared to turbines that are designed for running in one direction only?<p>The best I can come up with from the comfort of my armchair is that straight gears are typically equally efficient in either rotating direction, but often gears with angled teeth are used when one rotating direction is primary.
Incredible place, while at Bangor university I did my dissertation on electric mountain and now spend my weekend hiking round Snowdonia. Lovely part of the world