Sloy/Awe hydro power scheme
With the exception of Cruachan Power Station which was commissioned in 1965, major work on the Sloy/Awe scheme was completed by 1963, the year the Beatles had their first No 1 hit with From Me To You – and a world away from the immediate post-war austerity being experienced when Sloy Power Station was commissioned just 14 years earlier.


Power stations
Power stations | Capacity (MW) | Gross head (metres) | Average annual output (million units) | Year started |
Sloy | 152.5 | 277 | 130 | 1950 |
Sron Mor | 5 | 46 | 7 | 1957 |
Clachan | 40 | 294 | 82 | 1955 |
Allt-na-Lairige | 6 | 249 | 19 | 1956 |
Cruachan* | 440 | 365 | c700 | 1965 |
Nant | 15 | 172 | 36 | 1963 |
Inverawe | 25 | 36 | 106 | 1963 |
Kilmelford | 2 | 111 | 12 | 1956 |
Loch Gair | 6 | 109 | 19 | 1961 |
Striven | 8 | 123 | 22 | 1951 |
Lussa | 2.4 | 116 | 9 | 1952 |
*No longer owned by SSE Renewables
Major dams
Major dams | Type | Length | Height | Completed |
Sloy | Massive buttress | 357 | 55 | 1951 |
Allt-na-Lairige | Pre-stressed gravity | 425 | 24 | 1956 |
Shira (main) | Round headed buttress | 725 | 45 | 1959 |
Shira (lower) | Concrete gravity and earth fill with concrete core | 305 | 18 | 1956 |