With an installed capacity of 4MW, the plant can generate around 15,000MWh of electricity a year to supply around 3,000 homes with renewable energy. The investment volume amounts to more than 17 million euros.
Hydro power has always been a key component in RWE’s portfolio. CO2 neutral, reliable and save the plants generate electricity around the clock. Apart from wind energy RWE aims to expand small hydro power plants just like in Great Britain. Here, the company is a leading developer, constructor and operator of small hydro with 22 operation schemes (78MW).
RWE Innogy UK’s senior project manager Mary Drury said: "The construction of Maldie was challenging as particular care had to be taken to ensure the hydro scheme would fit in with its surroundings. The power house has been semi-buried and the pipeline and grid cable completely buried to ensure that any construction works blend into the local environment."
Maldie is the first storage scheme RWE Innogy commissions in the UK. It uses water from a catchment area of around 22 square kilometres. A weir located at the outlet of a Loch will raise the water level by 1.5 metres to form a storage reservoir. 2.8 cubic metres of water (19 full bathtubs) will be abstracted per second at the weir and fed into 2km of buried pipeline connecting to a buried powerhouse located 170 metres below the weir, which contains two 2MW Francis turbines.
RWE Innogy is going to expand its hydro power activities in Scotland further. Currently, the company is constructing in this region the hydroelectric power scheme Cia Aig (3MW).
