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Albion Community Power has secured nearly £5 million investment from the UK Green Investment Bank (GIB) to develop two new hydropower schemes in the Scottish Highlands.
The two community-scale hydro plants – Liatre Burn and Abhainn Bruachaig – will generate approximately 2.8 GWh of renewable electricity per year.
Construction of both projects is already underway with completion of the construction programme and commissioning of the schemes anticipated before the end of the year.
Albion Community Power (ACP) is a power generation company which builds and operates community-scale energy projects across the UK. GIB, Strathclyde Pension Fund and Greater Manchester Pension Fund are investors in the company.
GIB head of investment banking Edward Northam said: “Community-scale projects improve the efficiency of the network by generating electricity close to where customers need it.
“We believe that decentralised schemes like Liatre Burn and Bruachaig are an important part of the energy mix and have a significant role to play in increasing security of supply, reducing costs and cutting greenhouse gas emissions.”
These are the third and fourth community-scale Scottish hydro projects that ACP is developing. Construction of the first two schemes – Chaorach and River Arkaig – are in advanced stages and both are expected to be fully commissioned by the end of Q3 2016.
Albion Community Power chair Volker Beckers said: “We are delighted to announce two new projects as we continue to invest in small-scale hydropower.
“ACP’s expertise in hydro-power combined and enhanced by local knowledge supports the government’s SME and local business campaign. Hydropower, the oldest renewable technology, has a proven track record of generating strong and stable returns for investors.
“Institutional demand for community-scale renewable energy continues to grow and ACP is well placed to benefit from this trend. We look forward to working on both schemes, as well as developing a further pipeline of projects.”
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