Gilkes Energy and SSE announce joint plans to progress the Fearna Pumped Storage Hydro project
Gilkes Energy and SSE have announced plans to progress a new pumped storage hydropower scheme at Loch Fearna in Scotland’s Great Glen.
The Fearna Pumped Storage Hydro (PSH) project is located at the western end of Glengarry around 25km west of Invergarry and envisages the development of tunnels and a new power station connecting SSE Renewables’ existing reservoir at Loch Quoich with an upper reservoir at Loch Fearna.
Under the terms of the joint venture being announced today, the Gilkes Energy team will lead the project’s development phase.
It is envisaged the proposed development would be up to 1.8GW in generating capacity and capable of producing around 37GWh of stored energy capacity making it, alongside our Earba project one of the two largest PSH developments in the UK in terms of installed capacity and energy stored.
Carl Crompton, Managing Director, Gilkes Energy Limited, said:
“We are delighted to launch, in partnership with SSE Renewables, the Fearna Pumped Storage Hydro project.
Energy storage allows energy produced during times of excess generation (mainly wind) to be stored and released later when there is a deficit of renewable energy. Pumped Storage Hydro projects are in effect very large water batteries and the technology behind these projects is very mature and robust. PSH projects can easily last for 100+ years with no degradation in performance.
The recent publication of the Government Consultation on Long Duration Electricity Storage (LDES) support, likely to be a ‘Cap & Floor’ mechanism, is also a significant step forward. This Consultation recognizes both the value of Pumped Storage Hydro, but also the challenge of financing such capital intensive and long lead time projects. The proposed Cap & Floor mechanism has been used successfully to bring multiple interconnector projects to fruition, and we hope a similar mechanism will unlock the financing of a number of PSH projects. We look forward to bringing this pioneering project to fruition.”
Please visit the dedicated project website www.fearnastorage.co.uk for regular updates.
