Located in the power station at Pitlochry, the culmination of the Tummel Hydro-Electric Power Scheme, the Scottish Hydro Electric Visitor Centre was refurbished and reopened in 2005. Access is by walking over the dam from Pitlochry or from Port-na-Craig.
Open during the summer season, the centre provides a viewing gallery high above the turbine hall, allowing visitors to see the power station in operation. It also has information panels, models and exhibits which relate to the construction and operation of the hydro-electric schemes built by the North of Scotland Hydro Electric Board. By 1965 there were 56 dams and 54 principal power stations, connected by 372 miles (600 km) of aqueduct, rock tunnel and pipeline. The centre also examines the social history of the changes that electricity brought to the Highlands and the difficult conditions endured by the men who built these installations, who were known as The Hydro Boys. Further, the centre illustrates the importance of renewable energy.
Opposite the visitor centre is Pitlochry Fish Ladder, with its observation chamber where salmon can be seen swimming upstream from below the dam to reach Loch Faskally. The visitor centre explains the reasons salmon make the arduous migration from ocean to the upper reaches of Scottish rivers.
