Ben Cruachan

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Ben Cruachan
Ben Cruachan, seen from Meall Cuanail
Elevation	1126 m (3694 ft)
Location	Loch Etive/Loch Awe, Scotland
Prominence	c. 881 m
Topo map	OS Landranger 36
OS grid reference	NN069304
Listing	Munro, Marilyn, Council top (Argyll and Bute), County top (Argyll)
Translation	Mountain of Peaks^[1] (Gaelic)
Pronunciation	[ben kruəxən]

Ben Cruachan is a 1126 m mountain that is the highest point in Argyll and Bute, Scotland. It gives its name to a pumped-storage hydroelectric power station located in a cavern inside the mountain.

It is the high point of a ring of mountains, known as the Cruachan Horseshoe, that surrounds the power station reservoir. The horseshoe includes a further Munro (Stob Diamh), a Corbett (Beinn a'Bhuiridh), and several subsidiary summits.

[edit] Ben Cruachan Power Station

The power station was built in the early 1960s, and has been operational since 1966. It was originally operated by the Hydro-electric Board, but has been owned by Scottish Power since the privatisation of Britain's electricity industry in 1990.

Water is pumped from Loch Awe to the upper reservoir, 360 m above, during periods of low energy use (such as at night). A 316 m-long dam forms this reservoir. Additionally the upper reservoir receives rainwater; tunnels have been built through Ben Cruachan to catch rain coming from all sides of the mountain. Around 10 % of the energy from the station is generated from rainwater; the rest is from the water pumped up from Loch Awe.

The station is capable of generating 440 MW of electricity. It can go from standby to full production in two minutes, thus it is used to deal with periods of peak demand on the grid. If the turbines are on "spinning reserve" (turning in air, awaiting the rush of water) full output can be achieved within 30 seconds. It can operate for 22 hours before the supply of water in the top reservoir is exhausted. The power station is required to keep a 12 hour emergency supply; this is referred to as a Black Start.

There are four turbines, which operate both as pumps and generators. These are housed in a cavern located within Ben Cruachan. The excavation of this cavern required the removal of 220,000 m³ of rock and soil.

There is a visitor centre at the outflow to Loch Awe, and tours of the tunnels are available for visitors.