Exhibition on hydro power in Scotland

The School is currently showing an exhibition on hydro power in Scotland

The School is currently showing an exhibition in Shetland on hydro power in Scotland together with artist Marianne Greated from Glasgow School of Art. It includes a short film which traces the heritage of small-scale hydro power in Scotland, starting with the horizontal water wheels used for powering small click mills, through to modern micro-hydro plants.

There is also an interactive model water-wheel. Shetland was noted for its horizontal wheels which powered small click mills used by farmers for grinding corn. It is estimated that in the early 19th century there were about 500 such water-powered click mills in Shetland alone and water power was the driving force behind the early Industrial Revolution. Today numerous micro-hydro plants are making a significant power input to the grid and there are still substantial untapped hydro resources in Scotland.

In collaboration with colleagues in Engineering, the School has a research programme that is developing new techniques for mapping untapped hydro resources.

The exhibition, called Revolutions, is sponsored by EPSRC and Historic Scotland