Station celebrates in pictures

Dinorwig power station is built inside the mountain

An exhibition of photographs showing a feat of civil engineering which built the Dinorwig power station has opened in Llanberis to mark the station's 20th birthday.

When the hydro-electric power station opened it was the largest pump store station in Europe, using water from the lake to power its turbines and pumping it back for re-use.

Dinorwig was regarded one of Europe's most imaginative engineering and environmental projects when it started producing electricity in 1983.

It was built on the site of the Dinorwig quarry by excavating deep into the mountain between the Marchlyn and Peris lakes to create a huge chamber for water pipes and turbines.

Dinorwig's construction in pictures

The huge man-made cavern is made up of 16km of underground tunnels, and its construction required 1 million tonnes of concrete, 200,000 tonnes of cement and 4,500 tonnes of steel.

The exhibition of photographs shows the different phases of construction of the station which is owned by First Hydro.

It is now on show at the Electric Mountain - First Hydro's nearby visitor centre on the shores of lake Padarn.