A Highland river now powers Applecross through Europe's longest private cable — 26.5 kilometres buried under a mountain pass

For years, a small hydro scheme in Scotland's Highlands made clean electricity it could not send anywhere — the national grid had no room for it — while a salmon hatchery down the road burned diesel to keep its lights on. The fix, officially launched this week, is gloriously direct: a 26.5-kilometre (about 16-mile) underground cable, buried across the steep Bealach na Bà mountain pass, linking the two. The Allt na Moine hydro scheme's 2-megawatt turbine makes about 10 million kilowatt-hours a year — roughly the annual electricity use of 4,000 homes — and since 9 September it has been flowing straight to Bakkafrost Scotland's Applecross freshwater facility, cutting its reliance on diesel generators. The building work left the famous pass road better than it found it, with a new passing place and 21 more upgraded, and the partners are now working with residents on Applecross's first dedicated outdoor sports pitch and a new community hub. 'Engineering feats of this kind show that preservation of the landscape can be possible while still delivering ambitious and essential renewable energy generation across the north,' said local MSP David Green at the launch.

SDG 7 · Affordable and clean energy — Mechanism: infrastructure build