ILI Group To Develop 1.5GW Pumped Storage Hydro Project
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on the Solar Power Portal.
This is the sub-heading.
The pumped hydro facility will be located at Loch Awe, which is also home to Kilchurn Castle.
These paragraphs outline the story.
Clean energy developer ILI Group has begun the initial planning phase for a new pumped storage hydro project in Scotland.
The Balliemeanoch project at Loch Awe, Dalmally in Argyll and Bute will be able to supply 1.5GW of power for up to 30 hours. It is the third and largest of ILI’s pumped storage hydro projects, with the other two being Red John at Loch Ness and Corrievarkie at Loch Ericht.
The Balliemeanoch project will create a new ‘head pond’ in the hills above Loch Awe capable of holding 58 million cubic meters of water when full.
Note.
- At 1.5 GW/45 GWh, it is a large scheme and probably the largest in the UK.
- This is the third massive pumped storage hydro scheme for the Highlands of Scotland after SSE’s 1.5 GW/30 GWh Coire Glas and 152 MW/25 GWh Loch Sloy schemes.
- I describe the scheme in more detail in ILI Group To Develop 1.5GW Pumped Storage Hydro Project.
The article also has this paragraph.
It follows a KPMG report finding that a cap and floor mechanism would be the most beneficial solution for supporting long duration energy storage, reducing risks for investors while at the same time encouraging operators of new storage facilities to respond to system needs, helping National Grid ESO to maintain security of supply.
A decision on funding would be helpful to all the energy storage industry.
£100m Boost For Biggest UK Hydro Scheme In Decades
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on the BBC.
This is the sub-heading.
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.
These are the first three paragraphs.
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 1.5 GW pumped storage facility in 2020.
But power giant SSE wants assurances from the UK government before finally signing it off.
There are two major problems with this scheme.
Why The Forty Year Wait?
I am an Electrical and Control Engineer and it is a scandal that we are waiting forty years for another pumped storage scheme like the successful Electric Mountain or Cruachan power stations to arrive.
Petrol or diesel vehicles have batteries for these three main purposes.
- To start the engine.
- To stabilise the output of the generator or alternator.
- To provide emergency power.
As to the latter, I can’t be the only person, who has dragged a car out of a ford on the starter motor. But think of the times, you’ve used the hazard warning lights, after an accident or an engine failure.
The nightmare of any operator of a complicated electricity network like the UK’s is a black start, which is defined by Wikipedia like this.
A black start is the process of restoring an electric power station or a part of an electric grid to operation without relying on the external electric power transmission network to recover from a total or partial shutdown.
Hydro electric power stations and especially those that are part of pumped storage schemes are ideal for providing the initial power, as they are often easy to start and have water available. Cruachan power station has a black start capability, but at 440 MW is it big enough?
Over the last few years, many lithium-ion batteries have been added to the UK power network, which are used to stabilise the grid, when the sun isn’t shining and the wind isn’t blowing.
There are four pumped storage hydro-electric schemes in the UK.
- Cruachan – 440 MW/7 GWh – 1965
- Dinorwig (Electric Mountain) – 1800 MW/9.1 GWh -1984
- Ffestiniog – 360MW/1.44 GWh – 1963
- Foyers – 300 MW/6.3 GWh – 1974
Note.
- I always give the power output and the storage capacity for a battery, if it is known.
- According to Wikipedia, Scotland has a potential for around 500 GWh of pumped storage.
- The largest lithium-ion battery that I know, that is being planned in the UK, is Intergen’s 320 MW/640 MWh battery at Thames Gateway, that I wrote about in Giant Batteries Will Provide Surge Of Electricity Storage. It’s smaller than any of the four current pumped storage schemes.
- The Wikipedia entry for Coire Glas says that it is a 1.5 GW/30 GWh pumped storage hydro-electric power station.
I very much feel that even one 1.5 GW/30 GWh pumped storage hydro-electric power station must make a big difference mathematically.
Why have we had to wait so long? It’s not as though a pumped storage hydro-electric power station of this size has suffered a serious disaster.
Drax Needs Assurances Too?
The BBC article says this.
Scotland’s only other pumped storage scheme, operated by Drax Group, is housed within a giant artificial cavern inside Ben Cruachan on the shores of Loch Awe in Argyll.
The North Yorkshire-based company plans to more than double the generating capacity of its facility, nicknamed Hollow Mountain, to more than 1GW, with the construction of a new underground power station.
But both Drax and SSE have been reluctant to press ahead without assurances from Whitehall.
It looks like the right assurances would open up at least two pumped storage hydro-electric power station projects.
But it could be better than that, as there are other projects under development.
- Balliemeanoch – 1.5GW/45 GWh
- Corrievarkie – 600 MW/14.5 GWh
- Loch Earba – 900 MW/33 GWh
- Loch Kemp – 300 MW/9 GWh
- Red John – 450 MW/2.8 GWh
This totals to 3750 MW/104.3 GWh or 5850 MW/134.3 GWh with the addition of Coire Glas and the extension to Cruachan.
Getting the assurances right could result in large amounts of construction in Scotland!
What Assurances Do Power Giants SSE And Drax Want Before Signing Off?
This news item on SSE Renewables, which is dated 18th March 2022, is entitled Ministerial Roundtable Seeks To Unlock Investment In UK Energy Storage.
These three paragraphs gives details of the meeting.
Business leaders have met with UK Energy Minister the Rt Hon Greg Hands MP to discuss how the government could unlock significant investment in vital energy storage technologies needed to decarbonise the power sector and help ensure greater energy independence.
The meeting was organised by the Long-Duration Electricity Storage Alliance, a new association of companies, progressing plans across a range of technologies to be first of their kind to be developed in the UK for decades.
Representatives from Drax, SSE Renewables, Highview Power and Invinity Energy Systems met with The Rt Hon Greg Hands MP, Minister of State for Business, Energy and Clean Growth [yesterday].
But they still don’t seem to have come up with a funding mechanism.
- In this case, it seems that multiple politicians may not be to blame, as Greg Hands was the Minister of State for Business, Energy and Clean Growth until the 6th of September 2022, when he handed over to Graham Stuart, who is still the incumbent.
- Could it be that civil servants for this problem need to be augmented by a Control Engineer with mathematical modelling skills from a practical university?
It is the sort of problem, I would love to get my teeth into, but unfortunately my three mentors in accountancy and banking; Bob, Brian and David, who could have helped me, have all passed on to another place to help someone else with their problems.
I’ve just had a virtual meeting with all three and they told me to look at it like a warehousing system.
Consider.
- It would be very easy to measure the amount of water stored in the upper reservoir of a pumped storage hydro-electric power station.
- It would also be easy to measure the electricity flows to and from the pumped storage hydro-electric power station.
- A monetary value could be placed on the water in the upper reservoir and the flows, depending on the current price for electricity.
So it should be possible to know that a pumped storage hydro-electric power station, was perhaps storing energy as follows.
- 10 GWh for SSE
- 8 GWh for RWE
- 6 GWh for Scottish Power
- 6 GWh is not being used
And just as in a warehouse, they would pay a fee of so much for storing each GWh for an hour.
- The system would work with any type of storage.
- Would competition between the various storage sites bring down prices for storing electricity?
- Pumped storage operators would get a bonus when it rained heavily.
- Just as they do now, electricity generators would store it when prices are low and retrieve it when prices are high.
A lot of the rules used to decide where electricity goes would still work.
The Case For Pumped Hydro Storage
The Coire Glas Project
Note that Coire Glas is a pumped storage hydroelectric scheme being developed by SSE Renewables.
- It is rated at 1.5 GW.
- It can store 30 GWh of electricity.
- It is being built in the Highlands of Scotland above Loch Lochy.
- The estimated construction time will be five to six years.
- It should be operational for more than 50 years.
- There is more about the project on this page on the Coire Glas web site.
Exploratory works have started.
The Case For Pumped Hydro Storage
The title of this post, as the same as that of this page on the Coire Glas web site.
This is the sub-heading.
A study by independent researchers from Imperial College London found that investing in 4.5GW of pumped hydro storage, with 90GWh of storage could save up to £690m per year in energy system costs by 2050, as the UK transitions to a net-zero carbon emission system.
And this is the first paragraph.
The report focused on the benefits of new long-duration pumped hydro storage in Scotland, as the current most established long-duration energy storage technology. The benefit of long duration storage compared to short duration batteries is being able to continuously charge up the storage with excess renewables and also discharge power to the grid for several hours or days when wind and solar output is low.
So Coire Glas will provide 1.5GW/30GW, so where will we get the other 3 GW/60GW?
Loch Earba Pumped Hydro
In Gilkes Reveals 900MW Scottish Pumped Storage Plan, I introduced Loch Earba Pumped Hydro.
- It is rated at 900 MW
- It can store 33 GWh of electricity.
- It is being built in the Highlands of Scotland to the East of Fort William.
- The estimated construction time will be three to four years.
- It should be operational for more than 50 years.
- There is more about the project on the Earba Storage web site.
It would appear we could be edging towards the Imperial College target in lumps of about 1GW/30 GWh.
Other Schemes In Scotland
These are other proposed or planned schemes in Scotland.
Balliemeanoch Pumped Hydro
Balliemeanoch Pumped Hydro now has a web site.
The proposed Balliemeanoch pumped hydro scheme will have these characteristics.
- Output of the power station will be 1.5 GW
- Available storage could be 45 GWh.
This medium-sized station has a lot of storage.
Corrievarkie Pumped Hydro
Corrievarkie Pumped Hydro now has a web site.
The proposed Corrievarkie pumped hydro scheme will have these characteristics.
- Output of the power station will be 600 MW
- Available storage could be 14.5 GWh.
This medium-sized station has a moderate amount of storage.
Loch Kemp Pumped Hydro
I wrote about Loch Kemp Pumped Hydro in Loch Kemp Pumped Hydro, where I said this.
The proposed Loch Kemp pumped hydro scheme will have these characteristics.
- Loch Kemp will be the upper reservoir.
- Loch Ness will be the lower reservoir.
- The power station will be on the banks of Loch Ness.
- The power station will be designed to fit into the environment.
- Eight dams will be built to enlarge Loch Kemp.
- Trees will be planted.
- Output of the power station will be 300 MW
- Available storage could be 9 GWh.
The medium-sized station will have almost as much storage capacity as Electric Mountain, but that power station has an output of 1.8 GW.
Red John Pumped Hydro
I wrote about Red John Pumped Hydro in Red John Pumped Storage Hydro Project, where I said this.
I have also found a web site for the project, which is part of the ILI Group web site.
- The scheme has an output of 450 MW.
- The storage capacity is 2,800 MWh or 2.8 GWh.
- The scheme has planning consent.
- The project is budgeted to cost £550 million.
- The construction program indicates that the scheme will be completed by the end of 2025.
Not a large scheme, but every little helps.
Proposed Pumped Hydro In Scotland
I have listed these schemes.
- Balliemeanoch – 1.5GW/45 GWh
- Coire Glas – 1.5 GW/30 GWh
- Corrievarkie – 600 MW/14.5 GWh
- Loch Earba – 900 MW/33 GWh
- Loch Kemp – 300 MW/9 GWh
- Loch Na Cathrach/Red John – 450 MW/2.8 GWh
Note.
- The scheme’s name is linked to their web site.
- The two figures are output and storage capacity.
There is a total output of 5.25 GW and a total storage capacity of 134.3 GWh.
Conclusion
If all these schemes are built, Imperial’s targets of an output of 4.5 GW and a storage capacity of 90 GWh will be comfortably exceeded.
ILI Group Secures Planning Consent For 50MW Energy Storage Project
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on Solar Power Portal.
ILI Group or Intelligent Land Investments Group to give them their full name, are a Scottish-based company, that I follow as I like their energy storage developments.
The home page of their web site, lists three main areas of activity.
The home page also has a scrolling mission statement of
- UK Energy Security
- 4GW of Energy Storage Projects
- Aligned with government policy
- Saving over 200million tonnes of CO2e
- Over £4 billion of Investment
It is very much worth reading the section of the ILI Group web site, which talks about pumped-storage hydroelectricity.
It starts with a overview of the Pump Storage Sector.
Between 2007 and 2015, the total installed capacity of renewables electricity in Scotland has more than doubled. Due to its intermittent nature, the rise in renewable generation has resulted in increased demand for flexible capacity to help meet energy balancing requirements for the national grid system.
Pumped storage hydro is considered by the Directors to be the most developed and largest capacity form of grid energy storage that currently exists. This can help reduce renewable energy curtailment and therefore promote grid stability.
It then gives an overview of how pumped-storage hydroelectricity works and the benefits of the technology.
The section finishes by noting that the company has secured planning permission for the Red John pumped-storage hydroelectric power station.
The article on the Solar Power Portal, also has this paragraph on ILI Group’s ambitions for pumped-storage hydroelectricity.
ILI Group is also responsible for the development of a 1.5GW pumped storage hydro project at Loch Awe. The Balliemeanoch project based at Dalmally in Argyll and Bute will be able to supply 1.5GW of power for up to 30 hours. It is the third and largest of ILI’s pumped storage hydro projects, with the other two being Red John at Loch Ness and Corrievarkie at Loch Ericht.
Note these points about the Balliemeanoch project.
- It has a storage capacity of 45 GWh, which is around the total amount of electricity, the whole of the UK would use in two hours.
- It couldn’t power the UK, as it has an output of only 1.5 GW and the UK needs at least 23 GW.
- The largest pumped storage hydroelectric power station in the UK is Dinorwig power station, which has an output of 1.8 GW and a storage capacity of 9.1 GWh.
In terms of storage capacity, the Balliemeanoch project will probably be the largest in the UK.
The section of the ILI Group web site, that talks about battery storage, opens with an overview of battery storage opportunities, where this is said.
Battery storage projects provide an enticing new opportunity for landowners and investors alike. As a market that will see significant growth over the coming years (National Grid predict up to 40GW of storage could be required by 2050) we see exciting new opportunities in a sector that will be critical to meeting our climate change needs.
Whereas our pumped storage hydro projects will provide long-term storage capacity, our batteries will provide short-term services (less than 4 hours) to the electricity system. As the system decarbonises, becoming steadily more reliant on intermittent green renewable generation, storage will play a role of increasing importance in balancing the grid and ensuring security of supply.
Note.
- This is a sales pitch to landowners and investors.
- National Grid’s prediction of 40GW of storage by 2050, could be able to store as much as 1200 GWh of electricity.
- I agree with their statement that there will be a need for both pumped storage hydro and batteries.
The section finishes with a status summary of 21 battery projects that they are developing.
Conclusion
I feel that ILI Group is a company that means business and knows where it’s going.
The UK probably needs several more companies like the ILI Group.
Can Highview Power’s CRYOBattery Compete With Pumped Storage Hydroelectricity?
In this article on the Telegraph, Rupert Pearce, who is Highview’s chief executive and ex-head of the satellite company Inmarsat, discloses this.
Highview is well beyond the pilot phase and is developing its first large UK plant in Humberside, today Britain’s top hub for North Sea wind. It will offer 2.5GW for over 12 hours, or 0.5GW for over 60 hours, and so forth, and should be up and running by late 2024.
The Humberside plant is new to me, as it has not been previously announced by Highview Power.
- If it is built it will be megahuge with a storage capacity of 30 GWh and a maximum output of 2.5 GW.
- Humberside with its connections to North Sea Wind, will be an ideal location for a huge CRYOBattery.
- The world’s largest pumped storage hydroelectric power station is Fengning Pumped Storage Power Station in China and it is 40 GWh.
Pumped storage hydroelectric power stations are the gold standard of energy storage.
In the UK we have four pumped storage hydroelectric power stations.
- Cruachan Power Station – 7.1 GWh
- Dinorwig Power Station (Electric Mountain) – 9.1 GWh
- Falls of Foyers – 10 GWh
- Ffestiniog Power Station 1 GWh
With two more under construction.
- Coire Glas Power Station – 30 GWh
- Red John Power Station – 2.8 GWh
As energy is agnostic, 30 GWh of pumped storage hydroelectric power at Coire Glas is the equivalent of 30 GWh in Highview Power’s proposed Humberside CRYOBattery.
Advantages Of CRYOBatteries Over Pumped Storage Hydroelectric Power
I can think of these advantages.
- Cost
- Could be build on the flat lands of East Anglia or Lincolnshire
- Factory-built
- NIMBYs won’t have much to argue about
- No dams
- No flooding of valleys
- No massive construction sites.
- No mountains required
- No tunnels
- Small footprint
I suspect that a large CRYOBattery could be built well within a year of starting construction.
Rupert Pearce’s Dream
The Telegraph article says this and I suspect it’s a quote from Rupert Pearce.
Further projects will be built at a breakneck speed of two to three a year during the 2020s, with a target of 20 sites able to provide almost 6GW of back-up electricity for four days at a time, or whatever time/power mix is optimal.
6 GW for four days is 576 GWh, which if it were spread around twenty sites is 28.8 GWh per site, which is just under the 30 GWh of the proposed Humberside CRYOBattery.
Conclusion
You can just imagine the headlines in The Sun!
Man In Bishop’s Stortford Shed Saves The World!
This story on the BBC, which is entitled Meet The British Inventor Who Came Up With A Green Way Of Generating Electricity From Air – In His Shed, explains my suggested headline.
Now that’s what I call success!
Loch Kemp Pumped Hydro
Loch Kemp Is a smaller loch just to the East of Loch Ness.
This Google Map shows Loch Kemp in relation to Loch Ness.
Note.
- Loch Ness is in the North West corner of the map, with partial cloud cover.
- Loch Kemp is in the South East corner of the map.
The proposed Loch Kemp pumped hydro scheme will have these characteristics.
- Loch Kemp will be the upper reservoir.
- Loch Ness will be the lower reservoir.
- The power station will be on the banks of Loch Ness.
- The power station will be designed to fit into the environment.
- Eight dams will be built to enlarge Loch Kemp.
- Trees will be planted.
- Output of the power station will be 300 MW
- Available storage could be 9 GWh.
The station will have almost as much storage capacity as Electric Mountain, but that power station has an output of 1.8 GW.
In Glendoe Hydro Power Station, I wrote about the Glendoe Hydro Scheme.
- It is a 100 MW hydroelectric power station
- It has the highest head at 600 metres of any power station in the UK.
- It opened in 2009, making it one of the newest hydroelectric power stations in the UK.
- The actual power station is in an underground cavern.
- The dam and power station have been designed to be hidden from view.
This Google Map shows the location of Glendoe power station to the South of Loch Kemp.
Note.
- The red arrow indicates Loch Kemp.
- The loch in the South East corner is the reservoir that feeds Glendoe power station.
- Fort Augustus is at the Southern end of Loch Ness.
This Google Map shows the Northern end of Loch Ness.
Note.
- The red arrow indicates Loch Kemp.
- Foyers, which is a short distance to the North West, is the site of the Foyers pumped hydro scheme. I wrote about this scheme in The Development Of The Foyers Pumped Storage Scheme.
- Loch Duntelchaig, in the North-East corner of the map, is being used as the upper reservoir of the Red John pumped hydro scheme. I wrote about this project in Red John Pumped Storage Hydro Project.
On the East side of Loch Ness there seems to be four substantial hydro-electric schemes.
In order from South to North these schemes are.
Glendoe
Glendoe is a modern 100 MW hydroelectric power station, that opened in 2009.
In Glendoe Hydro Power Station, I felt it might be possible to expand Glendoe into a pumped hydro scheme, with upwards of 10 GWh of storage.
Loch Kemp
Loch Kemp is a proposed 300 MW/9 GWh pumped hydro storage station.
Foyers
Foyers is an existing 300 MW/10 GWh pumped hydro storage station.
Red John
Red John is a proposed 450 MW/2.8 GWh pumped hydro storage station, which has received planning permission.
These four power stations could be summarised as follows.
- Glendoe – 100 MW/10 GWh
- Loch Kemp – 300 MW/9 GWh
- Foyers – 300 MW/10 GWh
- Red John – 450 MW/2.8 GWh
Note.
- Totals are 1150 MW and 31.8 GWh
- Foyers was converted from a conventional hydroelectric power station, that was opened in 1895 to a pumped hydro storage station.
- If Foyers can be converted, why can’t Glendoe.
A very large pumped storage station of four separate units, can be built on the East side of Loch Ness.
Conclusion
This is only on the East side of Loch Ness, so if the West side can be similarly developed, Loch Ness could be developed into a real Loch Ness monster with over 60 GWh of pumped hydro storage.
Red John Pumped Storage Hydro Project
When I wrote ILI Group To Develop 1.5GW Pumped Storage Hydro Project, I noticed that they were also developing a scheme called Red John near Inverness.
The title of this post is the same as that of this article on Power Technology.
I have also found a web site for the project, which is part of the ILI Group web site.
- The scheme has an output of 450 MW.
- The storage capacity is 2,800 MWh or 2.8 GWh.
- The scheme has planning consent.
- The project is budgeted to cost £550 million.
- The construction program indicates that the scheme will be completed by the end of 2025.
This paragraph from this article on Water Power and Dam Construction, describes the head and tail ponds.
The Red John project will be located on the eastern shore of the north end of Loch Ness in the Highlands of Scotland. Loch Ness is to be the tail pond for the project, with the head pond to be newly constructed. It will use the natural topography between Loch Duntelchaig, Loch Ashie and Loch na Curra and Lochan an Eoin Ruadha, from where the development gets its Red John name.
This Google Map shows the area.
Note.
- Loch Ness is in the West.
- Loch Ashie is in the North.
- Loch Duntelchaig is in the East.
This second Google Map shows the area between Lochs Ness, Duntelchaig and Ashie in more detail.
Loch na Curra and Lochan an Eoin Ruadha are now named and can be picked out in the previous map.
It looks like there will be a lot of heavy construction works to create the head pond.
Conclusion
This scheme has the output of a large gas-fired power station for just over six hours.
The finances must add up, as no-one would back a scheme like this if they didn’t get an adequate return on their money.
The Anonymous Widower 