For centuries man has realised that running water has held the potential to power a variety of tasks, such as milling of wheat. It was not until 1881 that hydropower was used to produce electricity in Britain. Soon the Highlands of Scotland were to benefit. The monks of St Benedict's Abbey in Fort Augustus were first off the mark, constructing an 18 kW power station using the flow of a nearby stream. This provided power not only to the Abbey but also to the 800 people of the town. By 1914 many similar small private supply schemes had been built and many of them were still working up until after the Second World War. As time progressed hydroelectric projects started to be developed on a much larger scale. Instead of simply relying upon existing streams or rivers, these larger scale projects employed dams to allow water to be stored and then subsequently released when power was required. Early projects such as Dolgarrog in North Wales (which celebrated its centenary in 2007) with an electrical capacity of 35 MW and Tummel in Scotland (34 MW) still operate to this day, testament to the potential longevity of hydroelectric schemes.
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