The site was officially re-opened by Mike Russell, Cruachan’s local MSP. Mr Russel toured the site, which welcomes over 50,000 visitors per year and can power the equivalent of more than 90,000 homes at times of peak electricity demand.
Mike Russell MSP said:
“I am delighted to officially re-open Cruachan: The Hollow Mountain. This is a well-loved tourist attraction that provides a fantastic educational day out for all, and it’s great to see that it’s had a refresh. This is an important site, providing power to the electricity grid at times of need, and it’s fascinating to see how it works.”
Just a short distance from Oban, the site is also home to swallows, ospreys, pine martens and golden eagles, and often attracts walkers keen to take in the stunning views.
Vicky Bullivant, Head of Group Sustainable Business at Drax said:
“We are delighted to officially re-open the visitor centre. We’ve given the site a refresh and would like to encourage as many visitors as possible to come along and see the power station – it’s an incredible feat of engineering.
“The tour is an incredible experience – we take visitors inside the mountain to see the power station, and the surrounding area boasts some beautiful scenery.
“Our visitor centre team is brilliant at making sure every group is catered for, from primary school age right through to university students, families and specialist interest groups, we’re keen that as many people as possible share in the experience.”
The announcement follows Drax Group’s acquisition of Cruachan power station at the end of 2018 as part of a £702 million deal.
The visitor centre is open from 09:15am to 03:45pm in winter and 09:15am to 04:45pm in summer, Monday to Friday. The Hollow Mountain café is open to all, serving soups, sandwiches and salads using produce grown from the visitor centre’s own herb garden.
To find out more about visiting Cruachan, go to https://www.visitcruachan.co.uk/.
ENDS
Media contacts:
Jessica Gorton
Drax Group Press Officer
E: [email protected]
T: 07712677177
About Cruachan
- To book a tour of the power station, go to https://www.visitcruachan.co.uk/pages/request_a_tour.aspx. Prices start from £2.50 for children.
- To find out more about group and educational bookings, go to https://www.visitcruachan.co.uk/pages/education_and_school_visits.aspx.
About Drax
Drax Group’s ambition is to enable a zero carbon, lower cost energy future. Its 2,600-strong staff operate across three principal areas of activity – electricity generation, electricity sales to business customers and compressed wood pellet production.
Power generation:
Drax owns and operates a portfolio of flexible, low carbon and renewable electricity generation assets across Britain. The assets include the UK’s largest power station, based at Selby, North Yorkshire, which supplies six percent of the country’s electricity needs.
Having converted two thirds of Drax Power Station to use sustainable biomass instead of coal it has become the UK’s biggest renewable power generator and the largest decarbonisation project in Europe.
Its pumped storage, hydro and energy from waste assets in Scotland include Cruachan Power Station – a flexible pumped storage facility within the hollowed-out mountain Ben Cruachan. It also owns and operates four gas power stations in England.
B2B supply:
Drax owns two B2B energy supply businesses:
- Haven Power, based in Ipswich, supplies electricity and energy services to large Industrial and Commercial sector businesses.
- Opus Energy, based in Oxford, Northampton and Cardiff, provides electricity, energy services and gas to small and medium sized (SME) businesses.
Pellet production:
Drax owns and operates three pellet mills in the US South which manufacture compressed wood pellets (biomass) produced from sustainably managed working forests. These pellet mills supply around 20% of the biomass used by Drax Power Station in North Yorkshire to generate flexible, renewable power for the UK’s homes and businesses.
For more information visit www.drax.com/uk
