PRELIMINARY INVESTIGATION INTO THE HYDROPOWER POTENTIAL ON SCOTTISH FARMS

The numbers of rivers and lochs which lay within the farm boundaries o f a sample of 419 farms throughout Scotland were determined. This was done using GIS software with the Ordnance Survey digital data set ''St rategi''. The river length and head were also calculated for each farm . It was found that 82% of the farms had a river or loch within their boundaries, and 16% had a river with a high head difference of 50 m or greater, suggesting good potential for power generation. Existing wat er power features, shown as mill, weir or dam, were found on 5% of the farms. (C) 1998 Silsoe Research Institute.