The Anonymous Widower

Wales Puts Another Pumped Storage Hydroelectric Power Station Into Play

This page on World Energy is entitled Fortune Hydro AG and Voith Acquire 450 MW Dorothea Lakes Pump Storage.

This paragraph introduced the article.

Fortune Hydro AG, in collaboration with Voith Small Hydro, has acquired the 450 MW Dorothea Lakes Pump Storage project as part of an £800 million (US$1 billion) strategic investment in renewable energy in the UK.

It looks to me that this was a good buy in July 2023, as after last week, when I wrote Price Framework Paves Way For Vast Electricity Storage Scheme, in response to a UK Government announcement about funding pumped storage hydroelectricity.

These two paragraphs give more details of the project.

Located in Snowdonia, Northern Wales, this green storage facility presents a unique opportunity to integrate wind, solar and hydroelectric power, Fortune Hydro said. The Dorothea Lakes site was one of the largest slate quarries in Europe and the largest in North Wales.

Electricity produced by solar and wind during low demand can be stored until demand is there. This storage allows balancing of the production cycle in the large solar and wind farms in the north against the demand cycle of consumers and businesses in central and southern UK. It will generate up to 600 jobs and bring economic development and new business opportunities to the local community, the company said.

This map shows the location of Dorothea Lakes.

Note.

1. Dorothea Lakes is indicated by the red arrow.
2. The Menai Strait between Bangor and Caernarfon is at the top of the map.
3. It is certainly in a convenient place, with all the wind farms off the North Wales Coast.

At 450 MW, it’s about a third the size of Electric Mountain, so I suspect it could hold about 3 GWh of electricity.

January 14, 2024 - Posted by AnonW | Energy, Energy Storage, Finance | Dinorwig Power Station (Electric Mountain), Dorothea Lakes Pumped Hydro, North Wales, Pumped Storage Hydroelectricity