Turlough Hill
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Turlough Hill is the location of Ireland's only pumped-storage hydroelectricity plant, it is situated in the Wicklow Mountains at a mountain pass known as the Wicklow Gap on the R756 road regional road.
The plant was built between 1968 and 1974, for the Electricity Supply Board (ESB) by a German contractor. The project cost approximately IR£ 20 million (approximately US$ 50 million) at the time. At the time ESB started the project it also investigated a nuclear power option; this latter activity would later result in the Nuclear Energy Board. For many years groups could visit the site of Turlough Hill and the plant. However, this was discontinued because of operational and security concerns. The project was considered a major civil engineering and environmental feat in Ireland.[citation needed]
Turlough Hill has four units called Motor/Generators fitted. When operating as electrical generators they can generate 292 megawatts and when operating as motors driving pumps they use 272 MW. Like other similar systems, the site consists of 2 connected resevoirs, one above the height of the other. Electricity is generated by releasing water from the upper resevoir, passing it through turbines connected to generators. This is done normally at times of peak consumption, e.g. evenings. Electricity is stored by reversing the turbines and using them to pump water from the lower to the upper resevoir. This is done at times when the electricity supply exceeds demand, e.g. overnight. When the order is given, electricity can be made available within approximately a minute of startup. This is fast when compared with conventional sources such as coal, gas and oil which can take hours or days because of the requirement to heat all machinery to the steam temperature.
[edit] Landscape
Below the 100m (300ft) walls of the North Face of Camaderry Mountain in Wicklow is the glacial corrie, Loch na h-Onchon, in a deep hollow between the foreground and background of the picture (photo bottom right). On the top of the mountain there is an artificial reservoir (photo top right); the water from the corrie is pumped up to the reservoir and when electricity demand is high it is let fall through the inside of the mountain driving hydroelectric turbines. The electricity is linked to the grid through underground cables.
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