SSE is providing a £100m investment for exploratory work for the biggest pumped hydro storage scheme in 40 years.

More than doubling the UK’s electricity storage capacity, the Coire Glas project will be located on the shores of Loch Lochy, between Fort William and Inverness. In total the project is expected to require a capital investment of over £1.5bn to construct and SSE hopes to make a final investment decision in 2024, subject to positive development progress and the prevailing policy environment, and to fully construct and commission the pumped storage scheme by 2031.

Once complete, Coire Glas would be capable of delivering 30GWh of long duration storage. The scheme would take excess energy from the grid and use it to pump water 500 meters up a hill from Loch Lochy to a vast upper reservoir where it would be stored before being released to power the grid when wind output is low and customer demand is high.

Net Zero and Energy Secretary Michael Matheson said: “If built, Coire Glas will more than double Britain’s long duration electricity storage capacity – allowing the grid to more flexibly deploy renewable electricity. The Scottish Government has long been supportive of pumped hydro storage capacity, which we believe will play a key role in the energy transition and is a vital component of a more flexible, resilient and secure electricity supply.”

The next phase of detailed project design and refinement, construction planning and procurement will progress through 2023 and into early 2024. Around half of the £100m development investment will now be allocated to the pre-construction refinement phase of the Coire Glas project, including a comprehensive package of site investigation works which have now commenced and will complete later this year. SSE and Drax, operator of Scotland’s only other pumped storage scheme, are however reluctant to fully commit to future developments without clear signals from the government on a revenue stabilisation mechanism.

The delivery of Coire Glas is at the heart of SSE’s Net Zero Acceleration Programme, or NZAP, which commits to investing around £7m a day on critical low-carbon infrastructure needed in the net-zero transition.

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