Site Records

Clachan Power Station - Lower Shira dam

Daily storage for Clachan power station is provided by the relatively small loch impounded by the Lower Shira dams (main storage for the scheme is provided at the much large Loch Shira). There are two dams at lower Shira; a main concrete gravity dam, which incorporates the spillway and scour culvert, and a smaller earthfill dam which closes off an arm of the reservoir. They are seperated by a small knoll, as can be seen in the photograph below:

A closer view of the main dam, with the tunnel intake structure on the left bank:

The face of Lower Shira dam. 58' high, completed in 1956. Disperser is discharging a small flow of compensation water:

A conventional gatehouse and intake structure stands adjacent to the dam. From here the water is led through 6 miles of tunnel (with two short stretches of surface pipeline, crossing the Brannie Burn and Allt an t'Sithein) to the top of the Clachan pressure shaft:

Words and images © 2003 Michael J. Ross