Muckdate 8: She’s Electric
Today I thought I’d write about something that mainlanders like me completely take for granted: 24-hour on-demand electricity. Except for during the occasional storm or following heavy snowfall, I have never had a time in my life where I’ve not been able to have light, heat, or the prospect of a hot meal at the flick of a switch. For nearly 100 years, this has been the norm for the majority of people in Britain. After all, the first public electricity generator (in Godalming, Surrey) became operational in 1881 and by 1926 a National Electricity Board had been set up to ensure that supply and demand could be managed on a national scale. In 1919 a mere 6% of homes had electricity; by 1939, that had risen to almost 70%, and come the 1960s, almost every house in Britain was supplied with electric power, night and day - except for when politics, rather than technology, has failed the people it is intended to serve.
Not so on Muck. Muck has never been part of the National Grid; moreover, 24-hour electricity only came to the island in 2013. Electrical power of any sort only arrived in 1970, when two 4.5 kilowatt diesel generators were brought to the island - one for the houses at the main village of Port Mor, the second for the farm at Gallanach. The generators ran from 7-11pm and needed to be maintained, filled with fuel, and started manually every night, though they would shut off automatically. When they ran they were very noisy, and the power they gave was limited: enough for lights, but not much else.
In the early years, this didn’t matter too much as the islanders were used to using Tilley lamps and candles for light alongside gas cookers or wood-fuelled stoves for heat and cooking, and most didn’t have many additional electrical devices. This photograph shows the inside of the Macdonalds’ house in Port Mor - a building which later became the island’s bunkhouse - complete with solid-fuel range and a small candle lantern visible above. Eventually, most of the houses had their own generators but even then, these could be unreliable and demand often outstripped supply, so things that had to have constant power - like freezers - were communal, rather than each household having its own.
But as the need for electrical power in every day life increased, it was clear that the island’s meagre supply was going to hamper people’s ability to live and work here. In 1990, the idea of connecting the whole island to a centralised power network, supplied by wind turbines with the generator as back up, started to become a reality. A wind turbine was to be put on top of Carn Dearg, the hill closest to Port Mor, a new generator shed needed to be built nearby, and seven kilometres of underground cable would hae to be laid to connect up the system. Much of the work was done by the islanders themselves, including spending 18 hours pouring concrete to make a secure base for the turbine on the hill. The cable trench was dug using a JCB, then backfilled by island hand - all seven kilometers of it!
Then the wind power company who were to supply the turbine went into receivership, so all work on the scheme came to a halt. For the rest of the 1990s, the generators were still providing the power, though only for limited hours from 8-11am and 5-11pm. People planned their day around the electricity schedule. Washing machines, with their heavy draw on supply, were used according to a rota, and people got up early to do their cooking and baking before the supply went off during the middle of the day. An as the power went off at 11pm, the Muchanach (the Gaelic term for the islanders) often missed the end of films or television programmes that didn’t wind up before their island-specific cut-off!
But in August 1999, renewable electricity finally arrived. The islanders made a successful application to the National Lottery for funds to complete the work begun years earlier, and Scottish Power were appointed as contractors. A bespoke system, this time made up of two Vergnet 20kW wind turbines and a back-up diesel generator, was installed - renewable island-made electricity at last! But unfortunately the system had problems with reliability and output, and required a great deal of maintenance and manual assistance. On windy days there was enough power to meet demand, but at other times the turbines simply couldn’t produce what was needed. By 2011, both wind turbines had become inoperable due to problems with the batteries, inverters and chargers. The 38 residents once again had to ration their use of power to 9 hours a day, sharing the power from one 25kW diesel generator.
Wind turbines busy on Carn Dearg.
This was not a sustainable situation. The island simply could not do without affordable, reliable 24 hour power: computers and other electronic machines were by now essenetial for households and businesses alike. A new power system was required as soon as possible. This time, the company Wind & Sun used data from a similar scheme on nearby Eigg to design a dual system that combined wind turbines with photovoltaic panels to provide year-round electricty whatever the weather - with, of course, a generator for back-up. The aim was to reliably produce 150kWh/day, with enough energy storage for 24 hours’ use. In order to minimise reliance on diesel, each energy source was sized so that it could, in theory, support the island on its own. All properties would connected to a high voltage grid with four transformers supplying 20 homes, a guest house, school, community hall, and 3 workshops. Six Evance 5kW wind turbines were built on the site at Carn Dearg (photograph above), alongside 30kW photovoltaic panels (photo below), and a shed containing a large battery bank. And in March 2013, clean green 24-hour energy finally arrived on Muck. My neighbour, whose first two babies were born before all-night electricity came to the island, describes the joy she felt the first time she didn’t have to do a night feed and nappy change by the light of a torch or candle!
The island’s photovoltaic panels, with the Sgurr of Eigg in the distance.
Today one of the islanders is responsible for day-to-day maintenance and running of the scheme, and I am delighted to report that the supply has always been ample for our needs. We did loose power late one January night for about five minutes, but this was after we#’d gone to bed and the supply was restored extremely quickly. All properties are fitted with storage heaters for load control during periods when there is excess wind power : this ‘dump load’ (see photo below) is then sent to properties based on need, so those who are elderly, infirm, or with young children receive it as a priority. The system works - and works well, but every now and again my husband and I still find it hard to believe that if we’d come to Muck 10 years earlier, candle-lit nappy changes and weekly washing rotas would have been part of our lives too.
The electrical supply box in our cottage. As you can see, our power is coming from the wind/solar grid and both the supply and comms are in fine fettle!
Much of the information in this post was supplied by ‘The Isle of Muck: A Short Guide’ by the late Lawrencce MacEwen, from information provided in the heritage corner of the island’s community hall, and from conversations with our neighbours here on Muck. Thank you and do let me know if I’ve made any errors
