UK pumped storage scheme may lead to others

It has to be said this scheme looks very small against the massive Dinorwig set-up (1,728 MW). This type of facility can use surplus off-peak (e.g. overnight) wind power to pump the water up to the top, then send it back down by gravity at any required time to spin the turbines and generate ‘instant’ electricity.

An application has been submitted to begin development on a 99.9 MW pumped hydropower storage facility in Wales, the project’s developers have announced.

The £160m ($244m) project is to be undertaken by Snowdonia Pumped Hydro, a subsidiary of Quarry Battery Company (QBC), which has already received planning permission to develop 50 MW at Glyn Rhonwy near Llanberis. The developers now aim to double the plant’s output by increasing the capacity of the underground turbines and associated equipment. The project will re-purpose two abandoned slate quarries, and is expected to have an operational life of around 125 years.

Earlier this year SPH reached an agreement to lease 13 ha of land for the scheme from the UK government. Glyn Rhonwy represents the first of a series of pumped storage schemes the company aims to develop.

QBC said it had recently submitted evidence to the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) demonstrating how a 10 GW fleet of pumped hydro schemes to be built around the UK could cut £3.5 billion per year from the cost of decarbonising the grid, reduce carbon emissions by 5 million tonnes per year, and make the UK’s electricity supply more secure.

Source: Pumped storage project developers aim to boost capacity – Power Engineering International