npower renewables has lodged an appeal against the Scottish Environment Protection Agency's decision to refuse a water licence for a hydro scheme on the River Braan, located near the village of Trochry in Perthshire. The appeal's Public Inquiry is set to take place at the Birnam Arts and Conference Centre, near Dunkeld in Perthshire, on Tuesday 13 January 2009.

npower renewables submitted an application to the Scottish Executive in July 2005, to develop a hydroelectric scheme on the River Braan, located near the village of Trochry in Perthshire.

The turbines, along with the generator and transformer, will be situated in a buried powerhouse the size of a double garage, located upstream of the Hermitage Falls and Ossian's cave.

The turbines will be powered by water sourced via an intake weir situated at the higher end of the catchment, located upstream of Rumbling Bridge. Water will be channelled from the intake weir to the powerhouse by a buried pipeline. All water will be returned back into the River Braan via a tailrace from the powerhouse. See Schematic diagram and layout for further details.

The Braan Hydro Scheme is well placed, as the site has a number of attributes that allow the design to have minimal environmental effects and high-energy output, as follows:

• Large river flows
• Good elevation between intake and powerhouse
• Sizeable renewables resource at 3.4MW producing 11gigawatt hours (GWh) annually (enough for around 2,500 households each year)
• Excellent access to site from existing road infrastructure and forestry tracks
• Close proximity to local distribution grid and capacity for grid to accept new generation without the need for new electricity pylons
• Principal components of scheme situated to avoid sensitive habitats
• Topography allows most visible elements of scheme to be landscaped to minimise visual impact

Water is only abstracted for generation when there is sufficient flow in the river to provide a compensation flow immediately downstream of the intake structure. The compensation flow insures that the aquatic ecology of the river is protected, a free passage in the river is maintained for salmon smolts, and that flows are maintained over the Rumbling Bridge falls. Studies have been conducted at the site and surrounding area providing valuable information, which has helped minimise the possibility of environmental damage.

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