This scheme is big only in the sense that the output is big

Jock Robertson, Highland Light and Power

There was a five-week public inquiry in 1997 but the plans were withdrawn by the company before its findings could be published

Highland Light and Power is now preparing to submit an expanded and revised application for four dams that it believes addresses all environmental concerns.

Any further hold ups - possibly including another public inquiry - could call the entire development's economic viability into question.

When the contract was awarded it comprised 12% of the anticipated new hydro-electric schemes aimed at contributing to Scotland's renewable energy targets by the end of the decade.

Jock Robertson of Highland Light and Power said: "We feel we have more than met the demands of our opponents and we are grateful for this opportunity to air what it is we have done.

"There already exist, in that area, two hydro schemes already.

"One resembles our scheme and one manifestly doesn't. The second is one of the old hydro schemes built 50 years ago on the Kerry River. A massive concrete monolith disfiguring the countryside with a huge pipeline running down the road.

"The other one was built by our company eight or nine years ago on Loch Garbhaig. It is inconspicuous. Everything is buried and the turbine house has been hidden in a wood near the road. Nothing is visible.

"Hydro schemes are inconspicuous. They are extremely small. This scheme is big only in the sense that the output is big."