SSE Renewables has unveiled plans to convert its 152.5MW Sloy Power Station into a new pumped hydro storage facility.
The power station on the shores of Loch Lomond is Britain’s largest conventional hydro power plant.
Subject to final design, the converted Sloy scheme would be capable of delivering up to 25GWh of long-duration electricity storage capacity - enough to power around 90,000 homes for up to a week.
First Minister Humza Yousaf visited the site to mark the 80th anniversary of the 1943 Hydro Electric Development (Scotland) Act, which brought hydro power to the Scottish Glens.
“Facilities like the Sloy Power Station continue to play a significant role in energy supply, providing flexible services to the grid and help to ensure a continued, resilient and secure electricity supply, by helping to balance our intermittent renewable electricity generation,“ he commented.
“Hydro power was the country’s original source of renewable energy and it has the potential to play a significantly greater role in the transition to net zero – both on a small-scale in co-operation with local communities and on a larger scale, to help to ensure a continued resilient and secure electricity supply.
“We continue to call for the UK Government to provide an appropriate market mechanism for hydro power and other long duration energy storage technologies, to ensure this potential is fully realised.”
Finlay McCutcheon, director of onshore Europe at SSE Renewables, said: “In converting our existing Sloy conventional hydro power plant to a pumped hydro storage facility, we can provide the additional large-scale, long-duration electricity storage we need as part of the country's future energy mix.
“The development of pumping capability at Sloy also complements our development plans for our other pumped hydro storage project at Coire Glas.
“Taken together and if approved for delivery, Coire Glas and Sloy can treble Britain’s current flexible electricity storage capacity – that’s why it’s crucial the UK Government urgently confirms its intention on exactly how they will help facilitate the deployment of pumped hydro storage projects as part of our future energy mix.”
Over the coming months, SSE Renewables will refine its project design to convert the Sloy plant from conventional hydro power to pumped hydro storage technology, ahead of a period of public consultation later this year.
Subject to the scoping opinion, it’s expected a planning application could be submitted to the Scottish Government by late 2023 or early 2024.
Subject to a positive consenting outcome and the prevailing policy environment, SSE hopes to make a final investment decision on Sloy in late 2025, and to fully adapt and commission the new pumped storage scheme by 2028.
If approved for delivery, the project would require investment totalling the high tens of millions of pounds and would contribute to SSE’s Net Zero Acceleration Programme, which commits to investing around £7m a day on critical low-carbon infrastructure needed in the net zero transition.
SSE will provide an update on its future investment plans on Wednesday, alongside its full-year results.
The construction of 54 power stations, 78 dams and more than 300km of underground tunnels, beginning 80 years ago, resulted in affordable electricity for Highland communities.
Now, eight decades later, SSE Renewables still owns and operates most of these sites, with around 1.5GW of flexible hydro power and pumped storage capacity at sites across Scotland, producing more than 3TWh of renewable energy annually.
To celebrate the anniversary, SSE Renewables is planning a series of events and activities throughout the year, including the opening of a new observation point for visitors to Pitlochry Dam and Power Station, the publication of a biography of Scottish hydro pioneer Sir Edward MacColl, and an art exhibit showcasing images from SSE’s earliest hydro schemes.
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