Around 200 school pupils from local schools took part in the competition, which invited them to design a card commemorating the power station’s diamond anniversary. Cruachan was officially 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.
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.
The winners were:
Category 1: 7-11 years Winner Finley Ainscough, Park Primary School Oban
Category 2: 11-15 years Winner Jonothan Lutgert, Oban High School
Category 3: 16-18 years Winner Emma McCallum, Oban High School
In recognition of the volume of entries and high standard of artwork from the entrants, Drax decided to award additional £500 STEM Grants to the schools that didn’t have a winning entry. These were – Rockfield Primary School Oban, Taynuilt Primary School and Dalmally Primary School.
Sarah Cameron, Drax’s Scotland Community Manager said: “The competition has been a really fun way to engage with the youngest members of our local community and see Cruachan Power Station through their eyes. It has been lovely to hear from the children that most of them have enjoyed a visit with their school or a walk up to the iconic Cruachan Dam with their families.
“We hope the exhibition later this year will enable the whole community to see the creative talents of our region’s young people.”
All 200 entries will be on display as part of an exhibition later in the year to be held at St Conan’s Kirk, Lochawe, to celebrate the 60th Anniversary of Cruachan’s operations.
ENDS
Media contacts:
Kieran Wilson
E: [email protected]
T: 07729092807
Editor notes
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.
