Turlough Hill

Turlough Hill

Turlough Hill, also called Tomaneena, is a tall mountain that is 681 metres high, or about 2,234 feet. It is located in County Wicklow in Ireland. This mountain is special because it holds Ireland's only pumped-storage hydroelectricity plant.

The plant is run by a company called ESB. It can make up to 292 megawatts of electricity, which is enough to power many homes when there is a lot of demand for energy. This helps keep the lights on during busy times.

The mountain

The mountain was called Tomaneena by locals, but the name Turlough Hill was used by the electricity company when they studied the area. It stands 681 metres (2,234 feet) tall, making it the 136th highest peak in Ireland. You can reach the top by driving up a paved road that starts near the Wicklow Gap. You can also get there from Glendalough or from nearby mountains like Camaderry and Conavalla.

The mountain is made of granite and covered in a special kind of wet ground called blanket bog. This area is home to plants like heather, purple moor grass, and sphagnum moss. Near the top, you can find tiny plants such as dwarf willow, cowberry, crowberry, fir clubmoss, and common bilberry. To the northeast, there is a lake called Lough Nahanagan (Irish: Loch na hOnchon), which was shaped by a glacier at the end of the last ice age.

The pumped-storage scheme

The Turlough Hill Power Station is owned and run by the Electricity Supply Board. Building it started in 1968, and it was ready to use by 1974. This special power station helps provide electricity when many people need it most.

Name

Turlough Hill is also called Tomaneena. Before a power plant was built there, the hill did not have a name on maps. An engineer named J. O'Riordan, who worked for the electricity company, named it after his son, Turlough. The name sounds like an Irish word for "dry lake," but this was just a coincidence.