A £4M (US$6M) contract has been awarded to Miller Civil Engineering Services for the construction of Scottish and Southern Energy’s new 3MW hydro power station on the river Cuileig, near Ullapool in Scotland. The plant will be the power company’s first new hydroelectric station since the 1960s.
Construction is set to take 12 months, beginning in mid November, and Cuileig will be operational from October 2001. Work will include building a small intake weir and a 2.5km pipeline.
Scottish and Southern Energy’s hydro generation manager, David Lee, said: ‘The potential of the catchment of the river Cuileig has been recognised since the 1950s but we have taken care to design a project that recognises the needs of the environment and will bury the pipeline and power station underground.’ Ian Greg, civils unit director of Miller Civil Engineering Services, added: ‘We are proud to be in the vanguard of the new generation of hydro schemes, adding to energy assets in Scotland. We look forward to working with our designers Mott MacDonald.’ Consent for the Cuileig station was given by the Scottish Executive earlier this year and the project was accepted under the Scottish Renewables Order (SRO1).