At a glance
Permanently closed. The Electric Mountain visitor centre at Llanberis — the public attraction for Dinorwig Power Station — closed in 2018, and the building has since been demolished and returned to grassland. Underground tours of the power station are suspended indefinitely and there are no plans to reopen a visitor centre. The power station still operates but has no public access. For a day in Llanberis, see the Snowdon Mountain Railway, Llyn Padarn and the Llanberis Lake Railway instead. LL55 4UR.
Visitor access — permanently closed
The Electric Mountain visitor centre on the shore of Llyn Peris in Llanberis is no longer open. It closed in 2018 after its operator judged the building too costly and unsustainable to run, and the structure has since been demolished — the site has been reinstated as open grassland. The guided underground tours that once ran into the Dinorwig machine hall are also suspended indefinitely while a multi-year programme of engineering works is carried out to extend the station\'s operating life. There is currently no public access of any kind, and no announced plans to reopen a visitor centre.
If you were hoping to visit, Llanberis still has plenty to offer — see “What can I do in Llanberis instead?” below, or our guide to Llanberis.
About Dinorwig Power Station
Electric Mountain was the visitor name for the Dinorwig (Dinorwic) pumped-storage power station — an extraordinary feat of civil engineering hidden almost entirely inside the Elidir Fawr mountain above Llanberis. Construction began in 1974 and took 10 years: around 10 million tonnes of rock were excavated to create the tunnels and chambers, with the main machine hall — about 180 metres long and 60 metres high — among the largest underground chambers in Europe.
The station works by pumping water from Llyn Peris at the valley floor up to the Marchlyn Mawr reservoir behind the mountain ridge during periods of low electricity demand, then releasing it back down through the turbines to generate power when demand is high. The six turbines can reach full output in under 12 seconds — making Dinorwig one of the fastest-responding large generators on the national grid. It continues to operate today; only the public visitor experience has gone.
Find it on the map
Frequently asked questions
No. The Electric Mountain visitor centre on the shore of Llyn Peris in Llanberis closed in 2018 and the building has since been demolished — the site has been returned to open grassland. There are no plans to reopen a visitor centre. If you are heading to Llanberis, the Snowdon Mountain Railway, Llyn Padarn and the Llanberis Lake Railway are all still open; the National Slate Museum is closed for redevelopment until around 2027.
Not at present. The guided underground tours that once ran into the Dinorwig machine hall are suspended indefinitely. The operator has cited a multi-year programme of major engineering works to extend the power station's operating life, during which underground tours cannot be facilitated. There is no public access to the power station.
Dinorwig (Dinorwic) is a pumped-storage hydroelectric power station constructed inside the Elidir Fawr mountain above Llanberis between 1974 and 1984. It is Europe's largest pumped-storage facility, with an output of 1,728 megawatts. It works by pumping water from Llyn Peris up to the Marchlyn Mawr reservoir during periods of low demand, then releasing it back through the turbines to generate electricity in under 12 seconds when demand spikes — making it one of the fastest large power stations in the world to respond to demand. The station continues to operate; it is simply not open to the public.
Llanberis remains one of the most activity-rich villages in Eryri (Snowdonia). Still open: the Snowdon Mountain Railway to the summit of Yr Wyddfa (Snowdon); the Llanberis Lake Railway along Llyn Padarn; wild swimming, kayaking and walking on Llyn Padarn and through Padarn Country Park; Dolbadarn Castle; and the Ceunant Mawr waterfall walk. The National Slate Museum is closed for a major redevelopment until around 2027.
The operator stated that the visitor-centre building had become too expensive and unsustainable to run, with its heating and ventilation systems reaching the end of their life. The centre closed in 2018, and the building (other than the electricity substation) was subsequently demolished and the site reinstated as grassland earmarked for occasional community use. The power station itself, hidden inside the mountain, is unaffected and continues to generate.