Ready For The Bray Head Hydro Lake…?

The future looks wet…

nitially, thanks to the abundance of detailed illustrations, and the blurb charting the Outline Concept Specification, contour maps, measurements and marketing pitch, this great big hydro pump lake atop Bray Head looks quite feasible.

Like a fine Monet though, on closer inspection, the heavily detailed and illustrated proposition reveals itself as something of a squiggly, nonsensical mess.

Which might just be the intention of its creator, 80-something retired architect turned artist Ross Eccles, when it came to presenting this ambitious energy project for a 200,000 square-metre artificial lake on Bray Head that would operate for six hours a day and generate, on average, 220 megawatts. With an Average Head of 175 AOD. Apparently.

When Eccles’ Pumped Hydro Energy Storage designs on our beloved Cliff Walk popped up on social media this week, the eco-warriors shouted ‘Hurrah!’, whilst everyone else grunted a communal, ‘Huh?’.

The inquisitive Jeff Cole quipped, ‘Interesting idea and project. Would love to read more on it…’. The always eloquent and to-the-point Kathleen O Toole Tighe simple stated, ‘Wtf?’.

That the original plans are up on Eccles’ own recently launched website suggests this is a one-man show. And the fact that he has dubbed this new off-shoot website Shannon Superhighway suggests Eccles’ work here is more Andy Kaufman than Isambard Kingdom Brunel. Or maybe we’re dealing with the new Chancey Gardener…?

Still, we all need something to do in our retirement. And when young Ross isn’t painting up a storm – that’s Bray Head from The Cove on the right, and Greystones harbour to the left – he’s plainly cooking up a little online mischief with all those architectural tricks he’s learnt over the years…

You can check out Ross’ cunning plans here, and his fine paintings here.