Drax submits application to expand iconic ‘Hollow Mountain’ Power Station

Renewable energy leader Drax has submitted its application for planning consent to build a new underground pumped storage hydro power station which would more than double the electricity generating capacity at its iconic ‘Hollow Mountain’ Cruachan facility in Scotland.

The plans submitted by renewable energy company Drax to expand Cruachan Power Station in Scotland will support UK energy security, reduce energy costs, and cut carbon emissions by enabling more renewable power to be used by homes and businesses. The new power station could be operational as soon as 2030 with construction work getting underway in 2024, removing around 2 million tonnes of rock from inside Ben Cruachan and creating hundreds of jobs across Scotland.

The development – which could be the first newly constructed plant of its kind in the UK in more than 40 years – will provide critical storage capacity to strengthen the UK’s energy security and enable net zero. It will be a major infrastructure project which will support around 900 jobs during six years of construction across the supply chain in a range of industries from quarrying and engineering, to transport and hospitality. Around 150 on-site local construction jobs will be created during the development.

The up to 600MW power station will be located inside Ben Cruachan – Argyll’s highest mountain – and increase the site’s total capacity to 1.04GW. The plant will be housed within a new, hollowed-out cavern which would be large enough to fit Big Ben on its side. Around two million tonnes of rock will be excavated to create the cavern, tunnels, and other parts of the power station.

Stantec has been involved in this project since 2020, with its environmental, planning and design teams collaborating to take the concept design, test it against the environmental constraints and refine the design to the one in the submission delivered for determination this week.

Stantec engaged with primary stakeholders, including Network Rail, local authorities, the Renewables Alliance and the general public, to showcase this scheme that will have a material impact on the energy market and make a real difference in terms of climate change and domestic energy security.

Ian Kinnaird, Drax’s Scottish Assets Director, said: “Drax’s plan to expand Cruachan will strengthen the UK’s energy security by enabling more homegrown renewable electricity to come online to power homes and businesses across the country, helping to end our reliance on imports and cut costs. This major infrastructure project will support hundreds of jobs and provide a real boost to the Scottish economy. Only by investing in long-duration storage technologies can the UK reach its full renewable potential, and Drax is ready to move mountains to do just that.”

Claire Mack, Scottish Renewables Chief Executive, said: “Pumped storage hydro is a critical technology needed to meet net zero. Over the last decade we have managed to develop the technologies to decarbonise the power system such as wind and solar, but what we really need now is greater flexibility to fully optimise those technologies. That’s why the success of long-duration storage projects such as Cruachan 2 is absolutely vital to Scotland and the whole of the UK.”

Craig Scott, Director for Waterpower and Dams, at Stantec, said: “The submission of the S.36 application for Cruachan 2 was a significant milestone. We’re so proud of the collaboration carried out to achieve this, within Stantec, Drax, ASH, Applied Ecology and RPS Group. This project continues a social legacy created by the original Cruachan construction and, as such, it has a place in Scottish history that is respected by the many people that have built and worked at Cruachan over the years. Their sense of pride in the current power station is mirrored by the curiosity and enthusiasm for the expansion project. We look forward to supporting Drax where possible and seeing how this exciting infrastructure develops.”

In order to deploy this critical technology, Drax must secure consent under Section 36 of the Electricity Act 1989 from the Scottish Government – a process which will take around one year to complete from the application’s submission.

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