Over the last eight years, Atholl Estates has become heavily invested in renewable energy production through the development of four hydroelectricity projects, namely Broom, Dowally, Tulliemet Burn and Blair Castle. A fifth scheme most recently has been developed in partnership with Gilkes Energy on the Bruar Water. Combined, these schemes have the capacity to produce 2400kw of electricity, enough to power a small town.
Three of the schemes, Dowally, Broom and Bruar, benefit from controlled loch storage flow management which increases output by about 20%, taking efficiency to over 60% (meaning the scheme is operating at peak output for over 60% of the time) which compares favourably to most wind energy production which is typically less than 30%.)
Watch the video below to hear from Andrew Bruce Wootton, our CEO at Atholl Estates about the development of our hydroelectricity projects.