Construction
The scheme was constructed in the abandoned Dinorwic slate quarry. In order to preserve the natural beauty of Snowdonia National Park, the power station itself is located deep inside the mountain Elidir Fawr, inside tunnels and caverns. The project - begun in 1974 and costing £425 million and taking ten years to complete - was the largest civil engineering contract ever awarded by the UK government at the time. The work was undertaken by an Alfred McAlpine / Brand / Zschokke consortium. 12,000,000 tonnes of rock had to be moved from inside the mountain, creating tunnels wide enough for two lorries to pass comfortably, and an enormous cavern 51m tall, 180m long, and 23m wide known as "the concert hall". This has also given rise to the station's alternative name of Electric Mountain. The power station is connected to the National Grid substation at Pentir by 400kV cables that are buried for approximately six miles, rather than use unsightly transmission towers or pylons to transmit the electricity across what is an area of outstanding natural beauty.
Read more about this topic: Dinorwig Power Station
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