Village powered hydro scheme could make millions for locals
A £1.5 MILLION hydro scheme powered by the big ambitions of a tiny community officially opens next month.
It has taken ‘10 years of dreaming, five years of planning and nine months of construction’ to get the ambitious project up and running in Dalavich.
Residents living in the remote former forestry village, 14 miles down a single-track road from Taynuilt, can expect to benefit from £2 million generated over the next 20 years by selling hydro electricity to the National Grid.
Villagers behind the mammoth scheme, led by project manager Carol Thomas, who lives in The Old School, set up a community benefits society called Awesome Energy (Dalriada) Ltd to run it.
Five people have now been trained and are being paid to carry out regular checks on the hydro turbine, which cost about £225,000 and was shipped in from the Czech Republic.
After a feasibility study in 2012 and planning permission being granted in 2014, the hydro finally went operational on January 31 this year, just four weeks later than planned.
It has partnered with renewable energy business Innogy, owners of Braevallich Hydro near Dalmally, which is allowing Dalavich to share its grid connection.
Dalavich’s turbine can be turned up, to top up the power that the larger Braevallich cannot produce, or down.
‘Someone in the village once summed it up best saying it’s taken 10 years of dreaming, five years of planning and nine months of construction to make it happen – but here it is at last,’ said Mrs Thomas.
During the planning and construction work, mostly carried out by local contractors and professionals, the project – which at one time had eight lawyers working on it – has used stone from the nearby Barracander Quarry, completely renewed part of the village’s water supply from the River Avich, has revealed and preserved a Victorian stone power house and weir, and saved a rare rainforest lychen only found in Venezuela and some of the wettest parts of Argyll.
Land to the side of the new timber power house and the pipeline has been leased from the Forestry Commission for 20 years, and the huge pipe carrying the water down the hillside to the power plant had to be dug seven metres deep, out of sight below the sloping ground, leaving the view for visitors unspoiled.
‘What makes us worthy is that it’s an entirely communitydriven project. We’ve come up against unexpected barriers at every turn but we’ve got here in the end and what we’ve achieved is remarkable,’ said Mrs Thomas.
A footpath has also been re-routed so people can safely walk a loop, passing the rushing river and round the head of the hydro system. There are also plans for a picnic area.
‘The idea of all this was to provide community benefit, not just for the people in the immediate vicinity but the wider community and visitors too.
‘We are a tiny community running a significant business. Every penny of profit from Awesome goes to the community benefit
fund which will be managed for us by Foundation Scotland. What could be generated by our scheme is a £250,000 turnover a year. We have to pay money back but over the next 20 years it’s not unreasonable to expect £2 million
in community payments. The turbine should keep going for 40 or 50 years so that means potentially even more money coming in,’ said Mrs Thomas.
Around 90 shareholders so far have backed the project,
putting around £200,000 in the funding pot with more financial help coming through grants and loans. The main lender has been Social Investment Scotland.
More shares are to be offered for purchase in the future, said
Mrs Thomas, with Awesome Energy Ltd hoping it will bring a further £300,000 to the enterprise. The hydro’s official opening is on Sunday April 22 when MSP Michael Russell has been invited to do the honours.