Statkraft has marked 60 years since its Rheidol Hydropower Scheme was opened, with an anniversary event bringing together past and present employees.
Employees old and new were joined by Ceredigion MS, Elin Jones, at the site near Aberystwyth where a new film, documenting the construction and its early years of operation was unveiled.
Rheidol is the largest hydropower scheme of its kind in England and Wales and has been owned by Statkraft since 2009.
The 49MW scheme generates enough clean energy to power the equivalent of over 35,000 homes.
The Rheidol Hydro-Electric Scheme, as it was originally known, was built by the Central Electricity Generating Board, which was responsible for the generation and supply of Electricity in England and Wales, before privatisation. The scheme cost £10 million to build – the equivalent of £180 million in today’s money. The official opening took place on 3 July 1964.
Construction began in 1957, with some 1,800 people employed at its peak.
Under Statkraft’s ownership, Rheidol remains a fully operational hydropower plant, but has also evolved and grown to include Statkraft’s UK and Ireland control centre, managing 15 Statkraft renewable projects, monitoring almost 40 wind and solar projects on behalf of third parties. It also has a significant role in stabilising the electricity grid, and future projects being developed and operated by Statkraft will eventually see the Rheidol Control Centre directing up to 45 per cent of Great Britain’s entire grid stability services.
As part of the anniversary celebrations, Statkraft appealed for local people who had worked at Rheidol in the past to come forward and share their photos and recollections of their time working on the scheme.
The contributors include Bill Doyle, a 98-year-old originally from Ireland, who was one of many labourers working to dig the underground tunnels used to carry water for electricity generation.
Deputy manager of the power station John Elfed Jones also contributed along with Margaret Dryburgh, who was 17 years old when she became a secretary at Rheidol in 1963
Dai Charles Evans, who worked there in various roles between 1961 and 1991, including as a driver and an operator in the control room, appears with his wife Nancy Evans, a tour guide at the power plant for almost 20 years.
The former staff members attended the anniversary event, held at the popular Rheidol Visitor Centre, and were thanked by Statkraft’s Executive Vice President for Europe, Barbara Flesche, and Kevin O’Donovan, UK Managing Director, for their almost 70 years of combined service to the construction and operation of Rheidol.
Elin Jones MS said: “It’s particularly rewarding to see how Statkraft is not only celebrating Wales’ engineering heritage, but also looking ahead – providing apprenticeship opportunities to the next generation of skilled workers in Wales.”
Dennis Geyermann, Statkraft’s Vice President of Operations and Maintenance, said: “When this scheme was commissioned, it was expected to last around six decades. Today we can say it will be here for at least another six decades – and very likely longer. We’re proud to be the custodians of Rheidol, and its future is secure.”