Thursday, August 13, 2026 Search My Trip EnglishChinese
World news · travel · culture
Taiwan The Taiwan Times
Taiwan's window to the world

Cruachan Power Station

Argyll and Bute, United Kingdom

The 1516th largest power station in the world

440 MW · Capacity

The Cruachan Power Station (also known as the Cruachan Dam) is a pumped-storage hydroelectric power station in Argyll and Bute, Scotland, UK. The scheme can provide 440 MW of power and produced 705 GWh in 2009. The turbine hall is located inside Ben Cruachan, and the scheme moves water between Cruachan Reservoir and Loch Awe, a height difference of 396 m (1, 299 ft). It is one of only four pumped storage power stations in the United Kingdom, and is capable of providing a black start capability to the National Grid. Construction began in 1959 to coincide with the Hunterston A nuclear power station in Ayrshire. Cruachan uses cheap electricity generated at night to pump water to the higher reservoir, which can then be released during the day to provide power as necessary. The power station is open to visitors, and around 50,000 tourists visit it each year.

Power station data from Wikidata (CC0). Summary from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA).

More power stations in United Kingdom

  1. Drax power station3.96 GW
  2. Longannet power station2.4 GW
  3. Pembroke B Power Station2.18 GW
  4. Ratcliffe-on-Soar power station2.12 GW
  5. Eggborough power station1.96 GW

Other large power stations worldwide

  1. Bui Dam · Ghana1,440 GW
  2. Western Green Energy Hub · Australia50 GW
  3. Gujarat Hybrid Renewable Energy Park · India30 GW
  4. Three Gorges Dam · China22.5 GW
  5. Baihetan Dam · China16 GW
  6. Itaipu Dam · Paraguay14 GW
  7. Xiluodu Dam · China13.86 GW
  8. Belo Monte Dam · Brazil11 GW