Talk:Lussa Hydro-Electric Scheme

Sloy/Awe hydro power scheme

Your Scottish hydro power scheme articles, including this one, @Bob1960evens: are awesome, really first class. Well done.

I've been meaning for ages to improve Wikidata's understanding of Scottish hydro power ... the schemes and their components ... but have not got around to doing much beyond a stocktaking report - https://w.wiki/8ZUn - and a tiny amount of data curation; mainly, probably, due to lack of a copy of Payne, Peter L (1988) The Hydro, which in my general ignorance I presume is one of the more authoritative and complete sources.

So the main purpose of this note, apart from appreciative praise, is to note that SSE in their wisdom class Lussa power station as a component of what they call the Sloy/Awe hydro power scheme - https://www.sserenewables.com/hydro/sloy-awe/

I make the presumption that they're lumping together Sloy and Awe and Lussa for their own convenience; you're in a much better position than me to decide what, if anything, to do with this SSE information/designation in any of the three hydro scheme articles.

I'm particularly impressed by the scheme network diagrams, which chime with some wikidata work which is slighly more advanced: a map linking ~4000 Scottish rivers, streams & lakes into a slightly weird network diagram - https://query-chest.toolforge.org/redirect/90b2qkGoXwEi8oyACEY04AYecq4iQU6AykWmi6aC42S (find the play button, scroll down, bottom left, if you're unfamiliar with wikidata reports) - where each node is a river mouth or lake outflow, and lines connect to the next downstream mouth/outflow. I've come across occasional bits of hydro engineering in that, such as the Cuaich Aqueduct - https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q112614559 - which feeds Loch Ericht as part (I understand) of the Tummel hydro-electric power scheme.

So there you go; just thought I'd say hello & drop the above on you, having spotted this relatively new Lussa Hydro-Electric Scheme article. I'll maybe see if I can make some more hydro progress in wikidata based on your work. --Tagishsimon (talk) 04:21, 20 December 2023 (UTC)

@Tagishsimon: I have tried the network diagram, but am not sure what is going on. If I find Southend, at the southern end of the Kintyre Peninsula, below Campbeltown, I get four lines joined to it. If I move the page slightly to the left, the four lines are duplicated. A bit further and it goes back to the four lines. Another bit further and it is triplicated, quadrupled, quintupled, etc, with the lines advancing across the sea. I think it is losing track of where the map is positioned somehow. Best of luck with fixing it. Bob1960evens (talk) 13:22, 20 December 2023 (UTC)

Nit picking

Still, you'll want some feedback:

1. The article refers to Glenlussa Water and to Lussa Water. Same thing? Should it use only one of the names to avoid confusion?

Response: I have corrected the Lussa Waters to be Glenlussa Waters.

2. Allt Harvie on the route diagram has an arrow which for me is pointing the wrong way. Why is it not round ended as the tributaries higher than the loch?

Response: The round end is a spring, and the arrow indicates that the stream continues beyond what is shown. In this case, the stream is not very long, so I have replaced it with a round end.

3. Can the tunnel / pipeline distinction be illustrated by choosing different route diagram symbols for the tunnel section, to distinguish it from the pipe section?

Response: I'm not sure on this one. The only other option is to use the dotted line, but that is used to indicate waterways that have not been built yet. I have elected for showing the junction between the tunnel and the pipline, but using the same symbol for both.

4. Does the pipe take input from Glenlussa Water as well as from the tunnel. Kinda looks this way on an aerial photo, but idk

Response: I don't think so. The tunnel is obviously below ground, and the pipeline is a pressure pipeline, so is sealed. Also, the outlet to Glenlussa Water has now been fitted with a turbine, to ensure that compensation water maintains the flow in the river. If the compensation water entered the pipeline, it would defeat the whole object.

5. Should the route diagram show/label any of the the valve tower, valve house or surge tower associated with the pipe?

Response: Again, I'm not sure on this one.

6. "To provide a water supply, a dam was constructed across Glenlussa Water." Arguably the dam was constructed across Strathduie Water (cf. map) ... the name transition to Glenlussa Water was much lower down (map)

Response: I agree that the dam was built at a place where it was called Strathduie Water, so have altered that.

Feedback: Tagishsimon (talk) 07:22, 20 December 2023 (UTC)

Responses: Bob1960evens (talk) 11:55, 20 December 2023 (UTC)

By the way, Payne is a really good source for all of the major schemes, but barely mentions any of the smaller schemes, except in passing. So Lussa, Chliostair, Gisla, Morar, Mucomir, Nostie Bridge and Storr Lochs are more or less ignored. Striven is another, on which I will be working soon, but gets no mention. I am intrigued by the fact that Lussa was Constructional Scheme 8 and 68, so presumably there were two phases to it, but I cannot find anything on what those two phases were, although I have my suspicions. Bob1960evens (talk) 12:03, 20 December 2023 (UTC)