Water batteries and hydro power generation to meet grid-scale needs
Pumped storage is often referred to as a large “water battery.” It can harness renewable energy produced during favourable conditions to pump water from a low reservoir to a higher one, then when other renewables are unavailable, release it back to the lower reservoir. This water flows quickly provides large power generation capacity, on demand—and it’s carbon free clean energy.
SSE Renewable’s Coire Glas 1296 MW project will be the first major pumped storage scheme to be built in the UK in over forty years. Our job? Reference designs for engineering, supporting procurement of the construction contactor (including the dam, tunnels, underground powerhouse cavern, access roads, and associated infrastructure), and completing all environmental permitting to enable construction.
The project is sited in the Great Glen of Scotland, an environmentally sensitive location. As a result, a large focus of our work has been supporting the business case with socio-economic information, including 3D landscape and visual impact assessments for stakeholder meetings. Water balance models were developed to assess avian and aquatic impacts, and a peat management strategy will protect the dam site.
By enabling the construction of this large-scale generation scheme, which will more than double the UK's pumped hydro storage capability, SSE Renewables is helping the UK Government optimise its renewables target and enact its carbon reduction plan.
Find out more about the project here.
At a Glance
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- SSE Renewables
Craig Scott, Hydropower and Dams Sector Leader, UK & Europe
I recognise that with every project there are many stakeholders involved—from governmental entities down to individual users of the energy.
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