IIRC glenshee isn't in HIE's geographic area so it'd be someone elses door needing kicked (I agree with the sentiment 100% though).

i reckon there's a good case for a scotland wide hie-like body focussed purely on outdoor sports. dividing these things geographically might have made sense in the past but a sector based approach it surely the way forward. i get the feeling nobody at HIE (never mind scottish enterprise) has ever set foot on a piste or MTB trail

I never knew drilling for geothermal was a no no here, it could up localised food production along with plenty other things I can think of..

They've been chatting about doing it in Glasgow for a while, though that's extracting the heat in auld mine shafts round here that are full of water. Something is about tae be started in Clydebank too, dunno if they are drilling or using the flow of the Clyde or it's another bump fae the the local council tae fill a few pockets, again.....

The guns have arrived now and they are on a similar mobile platform arrangement to the existing guns.

The double decker snow factory has been assembled with the fans mounted on top of that making it three storeys high! My first thought was wind loading, the wind can whip across the car park there. Hopefully they have a large low mass and tied down well. We will find out soon with the forecast wind for the next day or two.

Graeme

Yes, it was in Weardale, and was reckoned to be the area in the UK with the most favourable geological structures for it. We were going to have a renewable enrgy village built on the old Eatgate cemnet works site. There was significant sums spent drilling test boreholes and etc. Ended up as a damp squibb.

They also had a go at Basel in Switzerland a few years back, but it was stopped because of the building damage caused by the coincident earthquakes.

Yes heat pumping is something much more do-able, though I'm not sure how much of Glenshee's energy demands go to heating vs running the lift network. I would assume because of the high up front cost of drilling the deep holes needed they would probably prefer to continue using oil.

Ah I was nearly right! That's a shame it didn't work out.

Nearly right, they tried a year later in Newcastle which is a bit nearer and got a better thermal gradient but it was no where near hot enough for conventional electrical generation (a Stirling engine would have worked though). However in both cases it was for heating purposes.

They have just started drilling again in Cornwall for a 3MW comercial generation plant. My guess is that drilling and fracking technology (you need to frack the rocks to get water to flow from one bore hole to the other) has improved so much since it was last tried in the 70's and 80's that another go at the technology is worth it.

Sure it is expensive, but there is potential in the UK (including Scotland) for ~9.5GW of baseload renewable. Building that as nuclear would cost around £200 billion, which is not exactly cheap either. See report

[www.r-e-a.net]

Me to. Its seems pretty sensible and that loch collects plenty water naturally

Of course, the claybokie, plastic slope poma and dink-dink already have power & water lines installed. I even have a photo somewhere from circa 2009 of 5 fan guns all running down claybokie, probably only with 1/3 of the nozzels spraying though. Looked good.

I'd be all in for a snowfactory there at the Cairnwell resteraunt, feeding all of those lower runs with conventional snowmaking up the racetrack and up Cairn Aosada.

Sunnyside is tricky, partly due to the low altitude (only 800m at the top) and because I'd rather see an area be developed that has already got 2 new chairs and will have a 3rd soon - kinda like grouping all the tech together for successful early and late season skiing. Theres no point in spreading resources to thin if the end result fails to make a difference.

Noticeably more expensive too presumably. Great use of public money!!

We looked at the larger unit at Glencoe but real concerns about wind loading put us of. TechnoAlpin wouldn't give any guarantees that the third tier would survive on a typical windy day at Glencoe. I can't remember the exact figure they quoted but it was something like 120kph. Fingers crossed they have it somewhere sheltered at Cairngorm.

Cheers Graeme!

I'll keep an eye on progress through yer cool pics on the snow thread!

The wind tolerance not be upped on they containers with decent anchors and the rest welded and bolted on top ?


[www.youtube.com] Killington hiring in power and air

China have a fan gun too, NORTEC - dunno how much and probably a copy of something decent, if it works and its cheap then it's worth a gander too...

I wouldn’t say it looks particularly sheltered!




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[www.youtube.com] Could be the access in years tae come and a few other doable places, trees included....

I agree with the method for snowmaking. Hire in pumps & compressors during december so that when the temperatures are low, make that snow!.....

....and lots of it, all as fast and as efficiently as possible.

Then return the hire equipment.

With the weather playing a part in when roadworks and other building/industrial demands on air & water plant hire decreasing during the winter months and over christmas, surely there is surplus equipment around that the owner will want to hire out, even at a discounted rate!