ICE President Richard Coackley enjoyed his recent visit to Electric Mountain from a visitor’s perspective, but with unique insight as a former Dinorwig Power Station engineer.
Richard was site engineer for Sir Alfred McAlpine at Dinorwig Power Station between 1979 and 1981 and returned to the visitor centre to meet members of the North Wales Branch of ICE Wales Cymru during his Presidential visit to north Wales.
The President gave an address to the ICE members and took part in a Members’ Question time session before representatives of Dinorwig Power Station gave presentations on its design, construction and the pumped storage scheme.
Dinorwig is a hydro power station with a difference. One of a small number of pumped storage schemes, it uses energy that would otherwise be wasted - to pump water uphill to a reservoir at the top of Elidir in North Wales. The water is then stored - ready to be released and flow downhill to recover the energy whenever it is needed, capable of generating one thousand eight hundred megawatts for a major period of demand - within 10 seconds of a command to start.
Richard said: “I am so proud to visit Electric Mountain at Dinorwig Power Station as its former Site Engineer, now as President of the Institution of Civil Engineers, representing over eighty thousand engineers worldwide.
“In effect, Dinorwig is one of the largest ‘natural batteries’ in the country and is a great example of how an individual project can be a key part of our vision for a green future.”
Richard also visited the Chainbridge restoration project and ICE Wales Cymru’s Web of Iron exhibition in Llangollen at the weekend as part of a visit to north east Wales organised by the Menai Bridge Community Heritage Trust and ICE Panel for Historical Engineering Works, supported by ICE Wales Cymru.
l to r: North Wales Branch Chairman Sergio Solera; Richard Coackley, ICE President; ICE Wales Cymru Chairman Ian Davies; and Keith Jones, Director ICE Wales Cymru.
Richard Coackley, ICE President visits the Chainbridge restoration project in Llangollen.