The Hydro Boys

"The hydro-electric project was a crusade, with a marvellous goal: the prize of affordable power for all from Scottish rainfall"
"This book is a journey through time, and across and beneath the Highland landscape…it is not just a story of technology and politics but of people."

"I heard about drowned farms and hamlets, the ruination of the salmon-fishing and how Inverness might be washed away if the dams failed inland. I was told about the huge veins of crystal they found when they were tunnelling deep under the mountains and when I wanted to know who 'they' were: what stories I got in reply! I heard about Poles, Czechs, poverty-stricken Irish, German spies, intrepid locals and the heavy drinking, fighting and gambling which went on in the NoSHEB contractors' camps."

"Nobody should forget the human sacrifice made by those who built the dams all those years ago. The politicians, engineers and navvies of the era bequeathed to us the major source of renewable energy down to the present day. Their legacy will continue to serve us far into the 21st century." BRIAN WILSON MP, Energy Minister, announcing a 'new deal for hydro' which now 'provides 50 per cent of the UK's renewable energy output. the largest generator serves more than 4 million customers.' THE SCOTSMAN