JCB excavator works on remote Scottish hydropower project

This JCB JS145 excavator is dragging a pipeline uphill as part of the construction of a hydro electric power scheme near Kinloch Rannoch, in Perthshire, Scotland.

The unit, which is fitted with 1.2 m wide tracks to reduce the pressures on the peat-based ground, is one of 15 mainly JCB excavators owned by Perth-based plant hire firm and contractor Chic Kippen & Sons.

The JS145 is working on the privately-funded Strath Tummell hydro-electric scheme, where water will be piped down hill from natural streams to turn turbines, with the electricity generated then sold to the National Grid. The excavator is dragging several hundred metres of plastic and iron ductile piping towards the stream at the top of the hill.

Chic Kippen & Sons has traditionally worked on groundworks and civil engineering projects, but more recently has been capitalising on the demand for renewable energy and now also specialises in the construction of wind farms and hydro electric schemes.