Qualla: Conon Hydro Scheme https://qualla.com/conon-hydro-scheme en-us © 2026 Bendyline Mon, 20 Jul 2026 10:21:24 GMT Qualla serial false Qualla support@bendyline.com yes https://qualla.com/_m/g/f/h/x/conon-hydro-scheme-wp/hero-small.webp Qualla: Conon Hydro Scheme https://qualla.com/conon-hydro-scheme Conon Hydro Scheme: Introduction https://qualla.com/conon-hydro-scheme/ Photo credit Mike Dunn, CC BY-SA 2.0. They called it Operation Bathplug. The engineers at Balfour Beatty had driven a sloping tunnel from a point above the future Grudie Bridge power station up to a position just 25 feet beneath Loch Fannich, then carefully shaved the roof down to 15 feet of remaining rock. A sump waited below. Three bulkheads sealed the tunnel against debris. When they detonated the final charge, the rock plug dropped neatly into the sump and water from Loch Fannich began flowing down through the new conduit toward the turbines. It was only the second time this technique had been used in Britain. Balfour Beatty had pulled it off the first time too, at Loch Treig for the Lochaber scheme. The Conon Hydro Scheme—six power stations cascading from the western Highlands to within twelve and a half kilometres of the Cromarty Firth—was full of such moments.

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Image: Mike Dunn | CC BY-SA 2.0

]]> Sat, 30 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/f/h/x/conon-hydro-scheme-wp/gfhx-conon-hydro-scheme-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full Conon Hydro Scheme: Three Phases, Fifteen Years https://qualla.com/conon-hydro-scheme/ Photo credit Mike Dunn, CC BY-SA 2.0. The North of Scotland Hydro-Electric Board developed the Conon Valley scheme in three phases between 1946 and 1961. Grudie Bridge came first, generating from 1950 at the confluence of the River Grudie and River Bran just upstream of Loch Luichart. It originally drew water through...

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Image: Mike Dunn | CC BY-SA 2.0

]]> Sat, 30 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/f/h/x/conon-hydro-scheme-wp/gfhx-conon-hydro-scheme-three-phases-fifteen-years.mp3 0:06 2 full Conon Hydro Scheme: The Stone-Faced Concrete Building https://qualla.com/conon-hydro-scheme/ Photo credit Mike Dunn, CC BY-SA 2.0. Architect James Shearer of Dunfermline had worked on the Board's earlier Nostie Bridge station and had a theory: the power stations should be built of stone to blend with surrounding architecture. He proposed it to engineer MacColl, who readily agreed. But when MacColl came to de...

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Image: Mike Dunn | CC BY-SA 2.0

]]> Sat, 30 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/f/h/x/conon-hydro-scheme-wp/gfhx-conon-hydro-scheme-the-stone-faced-concrete-building.mp3 0:06 3 full Conon Hydro Scheme: Loch Vaich and Its Two Spillway Towers https://qualla.com/conon-hydro-scheme/ Photo credit Mike Dunn, CC BY-SA 2.0. The Vaich dam is one of the more unusual structures in Scotland. To minimise concrete use during a period of material shortages, Williamson and Partners designed a rubble construction with a vertical concrete core wall. The upstream face is coursed random rubble; the downstream f...

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]]> Sat, 30 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/f/h/x/conon-hydro-scheme-wp/gfhx-conon-hydro-scheme-loch-vaich-and-its-two-spillway-towers.mp3 0:06 4 full Conon Hydro Scheme: The Cascade From West to East https://qualla.com/conon-hydro-scheme/ Photo credit Mike Dunn, CC BY-SA 2.0. The Conon scheme works as a cascade. Almost the entire River Conon catchment ends up passing through the lowest station at Torr Achilty before reaching the sea. Loch Droma at 270 metres above ordnance datum, Loch Vaich at 256 metres, and Loch Glascarnoch at 252 metres all feed Mo...

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]]> Sat, 30 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/f/h/x/conon-hydro-scheme-wp/gfhx-conon-hydro-scheme-the-cascade-from-west-to-east.mp3 0:06 5 full Conon Hydro Scheme: Borland Lifts and 200,000 Salmon Fry https://qualla.com/conon-hydro-scheme/ Photo credit Mike Dunn, CC BY-SA 2.0. The Conon and its tributaries carry salmon, and the engineers built fish passes into nearly every dam. The chosen design was the Borland fish lift, similar in operation to a navigation lock. Salmon attracted by water flowing from a lower pool swim into a shaft; a sluice gate clos...

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]]> Sat, 30 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/f/h/x/conon-hydro-scheme-wp/gfhx-conon-hydro-scheme-borland-lifts-and-200-000-salmon-fry.mp3 0:06 6 full