View inside the turbine house of an apparently horizontally-mounted turbine under the floor. Three small black pipes connect it to a big blue pipe. There seems to be a turquoise-coloured generator on top.
Interpretation board. Text:
Hydroelectric power
Listen to the black pipe behind you. The water that rumbles through it provides Dawyck Botanic Garden with all the clean, green energy needed to power the visitor centre and other buildings.
A hydroelectric generator inside the turbine house harnesses the flow of the Scrape Burn, a tributary of the River Tweed. It produces an average of 238kWh of energy each day, more than enough for the Garden.
In the visitor centre, you can see a display showing today's power output and the amount of carbon saved by not using electricity generated by fossil fuels.
Side panel:
Bright spark
An earlier, pioneering hydroelectric system was installed nearby by Jessie Balfour to illuminate Dawyck House soon after she bought it in 1897. Her home was one of the first in Scotland to have its own electricity supply.
Image captions:
Dawyck curator Graham Stewart inspects the hydroelectric water outlet.
Right: The old turbine house was closer to Dawyck House. It fell out of use by the 1950s and was later demolished.
Exterior view of the turbine house. It's a medium-sized wooden shed with a door in the side, and an interpretation board next to the door. There are large-leaf rhododendrons (Rh. grande, perhaps) either side of the shed, and trees above.
The outflow from the turbine house. A stream runs through the centre of the image, flanked by ferns and large leaf rhododendrons. A black pipe emerges from the turbine house, one corner of which is visible at the right of the picture, and is gushing water into the stream. There are mature broadleaf trees (without leaves) in the background.
I love botanic gardens and ex situ conservation, I love rhododendrons, but I also love small scale hydro when it doesn't interfere with migratory fish or other animals. Which is why it was a pleasure to visit Dawyck Botanic Garden yesterday and see their […]
[Original post on mementomori.social]