Coire Glas progress?

[Countrypaul]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland- ... s-65015217

[nowty]

1.5GW output and 30GWh capacity giving 20 hours running duration, approved to go, £1.5 billion cost, ready in 8 years.

I just looked at some of my grid storage investments for comparable costs. A recent 2hr duration 40MW project costs circa £20 million. So 1.5GW might cost half as much but would only run for 2 hours.

10 times the storage for twice the cost seems a good deal to me.

[Mart]

Worth comparing to Dinorwig which has slightly more power with 6 300MW turbines, v's the 5 x 300MW here, but at 9.1GWh is less than a third of the planned energy at Coire Glas. A truly huge scheme, and good timing I think too.

[AE-NMidlands]

The BBC radio report this morning emphasised that it still depends on how the government is going to rig the finances. The Beeb webpage report says

Scotland's only other pumped storage scheme, operated by Drax Group, is housed within a giant artificial cavern inside Ben Cruachan on the shores of Loch Awe in Argyll. The North Yorkshire-based company plans to more than double the generating capacity of its facility, nicknamed Hollow Mountain, to more than 1GW, with the construction of a new underground power station.
But both Drax and SSE have been reluctant to press ahead without assurances from Whitehall.
"SSE needs clarity around how the UK government is going to support projects like Coire Glas," Mr McCutcheon explained.
"It was a key element of their energy security strategy last year, but we need to see how that's going to work in practice."
He added: "It doesn't require subsidy but they are enormous investments."
Specifically, SSE would like a commitment to a revenue stabilisation mechanism and more assurances about how the regulated energy market would reward low carbon power generation.

Prof Bell of Strathclyde University said answers were urgently needed by industry, pointing out that the Climate Change Committee, which advises the UK and devolved governments, had published a report this month asking ministers for greater clarity.

There is at least 1 more biggie in Scotland and a small 1 in Wales - so all are in limbo because of our (climate) zombie government's inaction.

[smegal]

The BBC radio report this morning emphasised that it still depends on how the government is going to rig the finances. The Beeb webpage report says

Scotland's only other pumped storage scheme, operated by Drax Group, is housed within a giant artificial cavern inside Ben Cruachan on the shores of Loch Awe in Argyll. The North Yorkshire-based company plans to more than double the generating capacity of its facility, nicknamed Hollow Mountain, to more than 1GW, with the construction of a new underground power station.
But both Drax and SSE have been reluctant to press ahead without assurances from Whitehall.
"SSE needs clarity around how the UK government is going to support projects like Coire Glas," Mr McCutcheon explained.
"It was a key element of their energy security strategy last year, but we need to see how that's going to work in practice."
He added: "It doesn't require subsidy but they are enormous investments."
Specifically, SSE would like a commitment to a revenue stabilisation mechanism and more assurances about how the regulated energy market would reward low carbon power generation.

Prof Bell of Strathclyde University said answers were urgently needed by industry, pointing out that the Climate Change Committee, which advises the UK and devolved governments, had published a report this month asking ministers for greater clarity.

There is at least 1 more biggie in Scotland and a small 1 in Wales - so all are in limbo because of our (climate) zombie government's inaction.

Hopefully this happens too.

https://www.buccleuch.com/landmark-inve ... -galloway/

[dan_b]

This is excellent news for sure - progress has been painfully slow but if it heralds the start of new investment in (pumped) hydro that's all good.

[AE-NMidlands]

This is excellent news for sure - progress has been painfully slow but if it heralds the start of new investment in (pumped) hydro that's all good.

my fear is that none of these will actually go ahead due to the network/grid rules. Don't forget

But both Drax and SSE have been reluctant to press ahead without assurances from Whitehall.
"SSE needs clarity around how the UK government is going to support projects like Coire Glas," Mr McCutcheon explained.

The only thing I can see which side-steps the problem is storage co-located with generation. Pumped storage is predominantly balanced in-out so paying grid fees in both directions makes it a non-starter.

[dan_b]

True - the network access/payment rules are still a major stumbling block

[nowty]

The only thing I can see which side-steps the problem is storage co-located with generation. Pumped storage is predominantly balanced in-out so paying grid fees in both directions makes it a non-starter.

This should be obvious but its the first time I've suddenly realised the issue.
Makes it more difficult for pumped storage to compete with battery co-located with wind generation.

[CrofterMannie]

I have wondered if the proposed loch Kemp PSH scheme (not far from coire Glas) is to get round this. It is very close to Corriegarth (which iirc is about 150MW) and could probably have their own private convection to the windfarm, eliminating grid charges.