Sunak urged to back pumped hydro storage support

Rishi Sunak has been urged by renewables bodies to bring forward a government decision on support for pumped hydro projects for storing electricity.

In a letter sent to the prime minister, the chief executives of Scottish Renewables and the British Hydropower Association (BHA) stress the need for accelerated delivery of an investment mechanism to support the deployment of long duration electricity storage (LLES).

The UK currently has four pumped storage hydro stations, which work by pumping water uphill into one reservoir when power is cheap and then releasing it into another to generate electricity when required.

The letter says another six pumped hydro projects are being developed with over 135GWh of storage capacity.

The Coire Glas project, which is being developed by SSE Renewables in the Highlands, has an estimated output of 1.5GW that alone would double the country’s current pumped-storage hydro capacity.

However, pumped storage hydro projects, like nuclear power stations, involve heavy upfront capital expenditure and typically take around five to eight years to build, according to a report published by Scottish Renewables two years ago.

Given these timescales and capital outlays, the letter says that before committing to constructing their projects, developers are waiting for a government decision on a mechanism to stabilise revenues, such as an adapted version of the cap and floor used to support interconnectors.

The government is currently committed to producing a policy for enabling investment in LLES in 2024.

However Scottish Renewables and the BHA urge the government bring forward a mechanism in the “shortest possible timeframe” with a consultation this summer. And they strongly support a recommendation by the business, energy and industrial strategy committee for the decision to be made this year.

They argue that investing in long duration storage would cut the costs of balancing supply and demand on the grid, an increasing problem as the role of intermittent renewables generation grows, with knock on consequences on consumers bills.

Andrew MacNish Porter, policy manager at Scottish Renewables, added: “We need to get these shovel-ready projects into construction right away and urge the Prime Minister and the UK Government to deliver an investment framework that will unlock the huge value of pumped storage hydro as soon as possible.”