The Anonymous Widower

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.

Note.

  1. The scheme’s name is linked to their web site.
  2. 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.

 

February 19, 2023 Posted by | Energy, Energy Storage | , , , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments