The creative talents of Argyll’s young people have been on display at St Conan’s Kirk at a landmark art exhibition to mark the 60th anniversary of the iconic ‘Hollow Mountain’ Cruachan Power Station.
Around 200 pupils from local schools took part in an art competition earlier this year to design a card to mark the power station’s diamond anniversary. Cruachan was opened by the late Queen Elizabeth II on 15 October 1965 and has played a critical role in stabilising the UK’s power grid ever since.
Archive photographs depicting Cruachan’s incredible history from its beginnings in the 1950s to the present day were also part of the exhibition at St Conan’s Kirk.
Photo credit: John Devlin
Sarah Baird, Drax’s Scotland Community Manager said: “We had some amazing entries to the art competition to celebrate Cruachan’s special diamond anniversary. It was fantastic to see the breadth and depth of artistic talent that the region’s young people have.
“The exhibition enabled the whole community to not only see these fantastic works of art, but also to take a trip down memory lane with some of the wonderful archive images and stories on display as well.”
Joint Vice-Chair of St Conan’s Heritage Trust, Peter Hennessy, said: “St Conan’s is at the heart of the community here in Lochawe and we were delighted to host this fantastic exhibition. Around 50,000 people visit this historic church every year and it has been wonderful to see many of them this summer learn more about Cruachan and see the fantastic artwork that the area’s young people have created.”
The competition was divided into three age categories. Winners in each category received a framed print of their entry along with an Amazon voucher worth £100 for their personal use. In addition, their school was awarded a science, technology, engineering, and maths (STEM) grant of £2,000 by the power station’s owners Drax.
ENDS
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About Drax
Drax’s purpose is to enable a zero carbon, lower cost energy future. Our strategic aims are to be a global leader in both carbon removals and sustainable biomass pellet production, and to be a UK leader in dispatchable, renewable generation.
Our operations
Drax owns and operates a portfolio of flexible, low-carbon and renewable UK power assets – biomass, hydro, and pumped storage generation – which provide dispatchable power and system support services to the electricity grid.
We are the UK’s largest source of renewable power by output, and Drax Power Station is the UK’s largest single source of renewable electricity by output.
Through our pellet production facilities in North America, Drax is the world’s second largest producer of sustainable biomass. Drax has 18 operational and development pellet production sites which will have a nameplate capacity of around 5.4 million tonnes once expansions are complete.
Drax supplies renewable electricity to UK industrial and commercial customers, offering a range of energy-related services including energy optimisation, as well as electric vehicle strategy and management.
Our future
Drax is progressing options for carbon removals using bioenergy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS) technology globally and at our UK biomass power station. We are progressing plans to develop 7 million tonnes of carbon removals through BECCS by 2030.
In 2024, we launched Elimini, a US-based company to lead our global efforts to deliver carbon removals at megaton scale. Elimini’s purpose is to remove carbon for good. To achieve this, it is convening engineers, environmentalists, communities, investors, and innovators to scale the market for carbon removals, with the aspiration of transforming our economies from carbon emitters to carbon removers. For more information, visit elimini.com.
