- A giant hydro scheme which would double the UK’s ability to store energy for long periods is taking a leap forward with a £100m investment by SSE.
- It would still be the UK’s largest hydro scheme since the “Electric Mountain” project was completed at Dinorwig in Snowdonia in 1984.
A giant hydro scheme which would double the UK’s ability to store energy for long periods is taking a leap forward with a £100m investment by SSE. The proposed 92m-high dam and two reservoirs at Coire Glas in the Highlands would be Britain’s biggest hydroelectric project for 40 years. Scottish ministers approved the 1.5GW pumped storage facility in 2020, however, power giant SSE wants assurances from the UK government before finally signing it off.
A spokesperson for the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero said it was “committed to supporting the low carbon hydro sector, including hydro storage”. Perth-based SSE says the £1.5bn scheme would help tackle climate change and improve UK energy security. The concept of Coire Glas is simple. It involves two reservoirs at different heights in the Great Glen, the geological fault which slices through Scotland between Inverness and Fort William. By storing electricity generated in windy or sunny weather for use on cold, still or dark days, Coire Glas could help smooth the transition from oil, gas and coal to more sustainable but intermittent energy sources such as wind and solar.
Keith Bell, professor of future power systems at Strathclyde University, said the proposed scheme would also help with another policy objective: reducing the UK’s reliance on imported gas, a challenge given added urgency by the invasion of Ukraine last year by the world’s largest gas exporter, Russia. However, Prof Bell injected a note of caution, saying: “We need a lot more energy storage capacity to get rid of fossil fuels completely… probably 10 to 50 times greater even than the capacity of Coire Glas.”
Nonetheless it would still be the UK’s largest hydro scheme since the “Electric Mountain” project was completed at Dinorwig in Snowdonia in 1984, and one of the biggest-ever engineering projects in the Highlands, creating up to 500 construction jobs at its peak.
Source:BBC