The Anonymous Widower

SSE And Gilkes Energy Submit Plans For Pumped Hydro Storage Project

The title of this post, is the same of this article in Solar Power Portal.

This is the sub-heading.

SSE Renewables and Gilkes energy have submitted a planning consent application to Scottish Ministers for a proposed Pumped Storage Hydro (PSH) project.

These two paragraphs add more detail.

The Fearna PSH project is proposed as a 50:50 joint venture project between SSE and Gilkes Energy, with Gilkes Energy leading the development under a developer services agreement with SSE Renewables. The scheme will have an installed capacity of 1.8GW and a stored capacity of up to 36GWh, providing 20 hours of storage. If approved, the project would be the largest pumped hydro scheme in the UK.

The proposed site is located around 25km from Invergarry in the Scottish Highlands and adjoins SSE Renewables’ existing Loch Quoich reservoir, which forms part of the Great Glen hydro scheme. The development will include the construction of tunnels and a new power station that will connect the existing Loch Quoich reservoir to an upper reservoir at Loch Fearna.

This Google Map shows the location of Invergarry and Loch Quoich.

Note.

Loch Quoich is the dolphin-shaped loch at the West of the image.

Invergarry is indicated by the red dot at the East of the image.

This second Google Map shows the location of Loch Fearna to the North-East of Loch Quoich.

These are my thoughts.

It Will Be A Large Scheme

With an installed capacity of 1.8GW and a stored capacity of up to 36GWh, providing 20 hours of storage, this is not a small scheme.

Wikipedia’s Description Of Loch Quoich

This is the first two paragraphs of the Wikipedia entry for Loch Quoich.

Loch Quoich (Scottish Gaelic: Loch Chuaich) is a loch and reservoir situated west of Loch Garry approximately 40 km northwest of Fort William, Lochaber, Scotland. The name means “loch of the quaich”. In 1896, it was listed as six miles long and three-quarters of a mile in width, belonging to Mrs. Ellice of Glenquoich, within the parish of Kilmonivaig.

Both lochs form part of the Glen Garry hydroelectricity project commissioned by the North of Scotland Hydro-Electric Board in the 1950s.

So is the Loch Fearna scheme, a massive repurposing of the existing Glen Garry hydroelectricity project?

I wrote about this before in Repurposing The Great Glen Hydro-Electric Scheme?

This map from the SSE Renewables web site shows the layout of the dams and power stations between Loch Quoich and Invergarry..

The sizes of the power stations in the scheme are as follows.

• Ceannacroc – 20 MW
• Livishie – 15 MW
• Glenmoriston- 37 MW
• Quoich – 18 MW
• Invergarry – 20 MW
• Mucomir – 1.7 MW

This gives a total power of 112.7 MW.

112.7 MW to 1.8 GW (1800 MW) is a colossal increase in power.

It should be noted that 1.8 GW is half the power of Hinckley Point C nuclear power station.

March 20, 2025 - Posted by AnonW | Energy, Energy Storage | Fearna Pumped Hydro, Gilkes Energy, Great Glen Hydro-Electric Scheme, Hinckley Point C Nuclear Power Station, Loch Fearna, Loch Quoich, Pumped Storage Hydroelectricity, SSE Renewables