Students following electrical, construction and ICT diploma courses at the Malta College of Arts Science and Technology’s Gozo campus were given a guided tour of Cruahan power station, the UK’s first reversible pump-storage hydro power station built a kilometre below Ben Cruahan and Loch Awe.
The hydro plant uses a relatively simple engineering concept to produce up to 440MW of green, renewable energy to the UK national grid with minimal environmental impact.
The students were attending a meeting in Glasgow, Scotland, as part of the Lifelong Learning project ‘Sustainability in the New Europe – Ambassadors for Sustainability’.
During the project, the students identified ways to make buildings more sustainable, focusing on rainwater harvesting, and installing PV and solar water heating systems. This involved conducting site visits, measuring roof space, identifying site orientation and conducting calculations to establish the return of investment.
The other organisations involved in the project were Kelvin College in Glasgow, Berufskölleg für Technik des Markishen Kreises in Lüdenscheid, Germany and Alfa College in Groningen, the Netherlands. The project partners are currently collating their respective students’ work done over the past two years to include it in a multimedia DVD.
During the visit to Scotland the group was accompanied by Gozo campus director Godwin Grech, Marilyn Cefai, Sammy Mifsud and Charlie Portelli.