Cwm Dyli is the location of a hydro-electric

power station A power station, also referred to as a power plant and sometimes generating station or generating plant, is an industrial facility for the electricity generation, generation of electric power. Power stations are generally connected to an electr ...

on the southern flank of the

Snowdon Snowdon (), or (), is a mountain in Snowdonia in North Wales. It has an elevation of above sea level, which makes it both the highest mountain in Wales and the highest in the British Isles south of the Scottish Highlands. Snowdon i ...

range in

North Wales North Wales ( ) is a Regions of Wales, region of Wales, encompassing its northernmost areas. It borders mid Wales to the south, England to the east, and the Irish Sea to the north and west. The area is highly mountainous and rural, with Snowdon ...

. At the time it was built, it was the largest hydro-electric power station in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

. It is Britain's oldest power station, and is believed to be one of the oldest Grid-connected hydro-electric stations in the world.

History

The station was built in 1905 by the Porthmadog, Beddgelert and South Snowdon Railway company, backed by North Wales Power and Traction Co Ltd to supply electricity to its own electric railway and connected slate quarries and mines. The railway was planned to run through the same valley as the power station and be fed with an electrical feeder, but the enterprise ran short of funds and the attempt was abandoned. The company was renamed the North Wales Power Company Limited. In August 1906, power from Cwm Dyli was used to power the Oakeley Quarry in

Blaenau Ffestiniog Blaenau Ffestiniog () is a town in Gwynedd, Wales. Once a slate mining centre in historic Merionethshire, it now relies much on tourists, drawn for instance to the Ffestiniog Railway and Llechwedd Slate Caverns. It reached a population of 12,0 ...

carried over the Crimea Pass by a long overhead transmission line at 10,000 volts. It also supplied Dinorwic and Pen-yr-Orsedd quarries. Cwm Dyli was claimed to be the largest electricity generating plant of its kind in Great Britain at the time. Electricity produced here was also used to power the Carnarvon

Long Wave In radio, longwave (also spelled long wave or long-wave and commonly abbreviated LW) is the part of the radio spectrum with wavelengths longer than what was originally called the medium-wave (MW) broadcasting band. The term is historic, datin ...

Wireless Telegraph Wireless telegraphy or radiotelegraphy is the transmission of text messages by radio waves, analogous to electrical telegraphy using cables. Before about 1910, the term ''wireless telegraphy'' was also used for other experimental technologies fo ...

transmitting station built by Marconi in 1913–14 near

Waunfawr Waunfawr (''gwaun'' + ''mawr'', ") is a village and community, SE of Caernarfon, near the Snowdonia National Park, Gwynedd, in Wales. Description Waunfawr is in the Gwyrfai valley, on the A4085 road from Caernarfon to Beddgelert. It contain ...

. Supplying power directly to the National Grid, it is Britain's oldest power station, and is believed to be one of the oldest Grid-connected hydro-electric stations in the world. It was first commissioned in 1906 and has been in fairly continuous operation since then, although it was closed for upgrading in 1990. A single turbine now produces up to 9.8 megawatts (MW). Known locally as the "Chapel in the valley", on account of its exterior design, it employed 13 men. Today, however, it is controlled remotely from

Dolgarrog Dolgarrog is a village and community (Wales), community in Conwy County Borough, in Wales, situated between Llanrwst and Conwy, very close to the Conwy River. The village is well known for its industrial history since the 18th century an ...

in the Conwy valley. Water for the site primarily comes from Llyn Llydaw, some 320 metres above the power station, where rainfall is very high. The water is carried from the lake through a tunnel and two 30-inch (0.762 m) diameter, long pipelines. The pipeline featured in the

James Bond The ''James Bond'' franchise focuses on James Bond (literary character), the titular character, a fictional Secret Intelligence Service, British Secret Service agent created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels ...

film ''

The World Is Not Enough ''The World Is Not Enough'' is a 1999 spy film, the nineteenth in the List of James Bond films, ''James Bond'' series produced by Eon Productions and the third to star Pierce Brosnan as the fictional Secret Intelligence Service, MI6 agent Jam ...

''.

Technical details

The generating equipment at Cwm Dyli up to 1989 comprised: * 2 × Ganz Pelton wheels * 2 × Boving Pelton wheels, together these aggregated a capacity of 900 horse power (6.619 MW) The four wheels drove: * 1 × 1 MW Bruce Peebles

alternator An alternator (or synchronous generator) is an electrical generator that converts mechanical energy to electrical energy in the form of alternating current. For reasons of cost and simplicity, most alternators use a rotating magnetic field wit ...

* 1 × 1.5 MW Bruce Peebles alternator * 1 × 3 MW Bruce Peebles alternator The total electricity generating capacity was 6.5 MW, at 10 kV. The following graph shows the annual electricity output in MWh from Cwm Dyli between 1921 and 1986:''CEGB Statistical Yearbook'' 1972 to 1986 Central Electricity Generating Board

References

External links

* {{Energy in Wales Hydroelectric power stations in Wales Grade II* listed buildings in Gwynedd Beddgelert Energy infrastructure completed in 1905 1905 establishments in Wales

History

Technical details

See also

References

External links