First Hydro Company
Electric Mountain Site (24/02/2021)
Date: 24/02/2021
As many will be aware, since 2018 we have been working on plans to redevelop the Electric Mountain Visitor Centre (EMVC) in Llanberis. Those in the vicinity of the site or visiting the area may have seen the temporary buildings that have been in operation which helped to continue to run the tours of Dinorwig Power Station for the 2019 season.
Beyond the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic the redevelopment project has met some insurmountable challenges, which have sadly forced us to cancel the refurbishment of the facilities.
In particular there has been an acceleration of major engineering works at Dinorwig necessary to extend the operating life of the power station for the coming decades. The works will unfortunately mean that for the next several years it will not be possible to facilitate underground tours - which have traditionally been a cornerstone of EMVC’s offering. At this stage there are no plans in place to reopen a new visitor centre building. Tours of the Power Station are no longer available.
The demolition and repurposing of the Electric Mountain Visitor Centre site has been successfully completed by Jones Bros Civil Engineering, providing an open grassland area.
The newly-surfaced car park now includes electric vehicle charging points. The car park has been improved for motorists and the community in various ways:
- Compliance with the Pay & Display system and add a level of security
- There will be more payment machines to improve the queuing problem
- The machines will have improved connectivity so that card payments will be processed much more quickly
- The car park will be managed by ANPR cameras, deterring out of hours anti-social activity
- Payments for parking can be made at the start, at the end or topped up for convenience
As the site is situated within a Special Landscape area, consideration had been given to the scale and nature of the development ensuring no significant adverse detrimental impact on the landscape.
Mitigation measures for the roosting of common pipistrelle bats and soprano pipistrelle bats include the provision of five additional bat boxes and a bat roost within the roof space of the retained sub-station building.
Four bird nesting boxes and brash piles have also been created within the adjacent woodland areas as a mitigation measure for habitat loss and temporary disturbance to hedgehogs.
The power station underneath Dinorwig Quarry remains a feat of engineering that is of national significance and we would hope to find an alternative, viable way, to showcase its operations in the future.
As always, we will remain engaged with the communities through supporting local projects, schemes, and events – and continue to work with forums in the interest of the local area.
For Electric Mountain enquiries, please contact communityhelp@electricmountain.co.uk
