Wild Land News no 58, Autumn 2003

Glen Doe hydro electric scheme Article

Anne Macintyre reports on the largest hydro proposal in the Highlands for many years

A major hydro electric scheme is being proposed by Scottish and Southern Energy Generation Ltd for the Glen Doe area above Fort Augustus. At the SWLG annual meeting in May, a group of members took the opportunity to visit the proposed site and assess for ourselves what the impact would be on this wild and relatively remote area of the Monadhliath Mountains.

We enjoyed the walk up the old Glen Doe track and shuddered to imagine it being bulldozed aside to make way for a vehicular access road that would need to climb up through Coire Doe and over the watershed at an altitude of over 800 metres. Despite poor weather, we had expansive views from the beautiful high lochans that lead you round to the summit of Carn a' Chuilinn across the headwaters of the Tarff and to the Corrieyairack beyond. It was clear to us that the impact on this unspoilt area would be devastating.

The large size of the proposed scheme (possibly up to 300 megawatts) would involve the construction of a one kilometre wide dam flooding two square kilometres of blanket bog by diverting the upper tributaries of three river catchments - the River Tarff, the Allt Breineag and the River Killin. Water would be collected from the various tributary burns and from the reservoir and trnasported by 22 kilometres of pipeline to a power station on Loch Ness. As well as the access road up Glen Doe, a further two access roads would be needed to service the reservoir and pipeline systems.

SWLG has submitted a formal objection to the Glen Doe scheme which is currently being given 'careful consideration by Scottish Ministers before they reach a determination on this proposal'.

The grounds for our objection are:

Inappropriate scale and location of this development and the significant impact on the landscape.
Need to protect wild land in Scotland as this is a precious and diminishing resource in Europe - protection is becoming increasingly important both from environmental and recreation perspectives.
Economic and environmental benefits projected for the scheme do not outweigh the disadvantages in terms of irreversible damage to an upland area of this quality.
Inadequate national planning framework and our increasing concern at the number of renewable energy schemes (currently over 200 of them!) that are being submitted on an ad hoc and opportunistic basis.

The urgent need for an overall strategy for the location, size and type of renewable energy schemes to be developed in Scotland is of critical importance. We have recently heard of plans for a proposed hydro scheme for Stronelairig by Innogy which appears to overlap and directly compete with the Glen Doe scheme. Renewable schemes are in danger of becoming like the blanket forestry schemes driven by financial incentives that we all recognise now as complete folly. Our wild land in Scotland can do without this but we do need to develop sensible renewable projects which are not increasingly frustrated through public controversy and expensive public enquiries.

Write to your MSP asking for a new national planning framework for renewable energy schemes to be put in place as a matter of urgency.