Scotland's 90-Year-Old Hydro Plant Gets $2.5M Makeover

A power station built in the 1930s is getting a second life, proving that old infrastructure can still power our future.

Energy company Drax just completed a £2 million restoration of Scotland's Tongland Power Station in Dumfries and Galloway. The nearly century-old building, designated as a Category A listed historic site, now looks as impressive as the day it first opened while continuing to generate clean electricity for thousands of homes.

The project wasn't just a fresh coat of paint. Specialists used custom materials designed to protect the building's "finely detailed modernist classical design" for decades to come, treating it with the same care you'd give a museum piece.

The renovation was so delicate that crews had to work around the building's historic status every step of the way. Historic Environment Scotland recognizes Tongland as a crucial piece of hydropower history, making preservation just as important as function.

Inside, Drax revamped the exhibition space so school groups can tour the facility again. Kids will soon walk through the same halls where engineers pioneered renewable energy technology 90 years ago, connecting past innovation to present solutions.

Tongland is one of six facilities in the Galloway Hydro Scheme, a network of dams and reservoirs that stretches across the region. Together, these stations have quietly delivered renewable electricity to Scotland for generations, long before solar panels and wind turbines became household names.

The Ripple Effect

This restoration is just one piece of Drax's larger commitment to Scotland's clean energy future. The company is installing 1,500 solar panels across its Galloway and Lanark hydro schemes, completing an £80 million upgrade at Cruachan Power Station, and starting improvements at its Glenlee site.

Ian Kinnaird, Drax's FlexGen Assets Director, captured what makes this project special: "Tongland has been part of Scotland's energy story for almost a century, so everyone involved should feel incredibly proud to see it looking as good as new."

The best part? This nearly 100-year-old facility will keep generating flexible, renewable power for generations yet to come.