Pumped Storage Hydro

Government gives Drax Group green light for new pumped storage at Cruachan

Government gives Drax Group green light for new pumped storage at Cruachan

Drax Group has secured development consent from the Scottish Government for its plans to build a new £500 million (US$642.7 million) underground pumped storage hydro plant at its existing 440 MW Cruachan facility in Argyll, Scotland.

The decision was made through the Section 36 process and “is a significant moment in Scotland’s journey to net zero, with new long-duration storage plants critical to enabling more wind and solar power to come online in the next decade,” Drax said. Drax applied for development consent under Section 36 of the Electricity Act 1989 in May 2022.

On July 25, Scotland’s First Minister Humza Yousaf visited Drax’s power station on the shores of Loch Awe, where he underlined his call for the UK Government “to provide an appropriate market mechanism for hydro power and other long duration energy storage technologies.” Yousaf recently wrote to the Prime Minister urging him to take action so developers can have the certainty required to build a new generation of pumped storage hydro plants.

The new 600 MW plant at Cruachan is part of Drax’s £7 billion ($9 billion) strategic investment plan in clean energy technologies between 2024 and 2030, such as long-duration storage and bioenergy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS). Constructed adjacent to the existing underground facility, the plant would more than double the site’s total generation capacity to over 1 GW.

Growing the UK’s pumped storage hydro capacity is crucial to integrating more wind and solar power onto the energy grid, enhancing the nation’s energy security while tackling climate change, Drax said.

“This is a major milestone in Drax’s plans to build Britain’s first new pumped storage hydro plant in a generation,” said Will Gardiner, Drax Group chief executive officer. “These plants play a critical role in stabilizing the electricity system, helping to balance supply and demand through storing excess power from the national grid. When Scotland’s wind turbines are generating more power than we need, Cruachan steps in to store the renewable electricity so it doesn’t go to waste.”

The expansion of Cruachan requires an updated financial stabilization mechanism from the UK Government. The absence of a framework for large-scale, long-duration storage technologies has resulted in no new plants being constructed in the UK since 1984, despite their critical role in the decarbonization process, Drax said.

“Hydro power has real potential to play a greater role in our transition to net zero, and to help ensure a resilient and secure electricity supply across the UK,” Yousaf said. “The expansion of Cruachan will help to strengthen our energy security by providing much needed resilience in the system, supporting hundreds of jobs and providing a real boost to the Scottish economy. However, we know that there remain a number of challenges in developing new hydro power projects in Scotland. The Scottish Government will continue to urge the UK government to provide an appropriate market mechanism for hydro power and other long duration energy storage technologies, to ensure that the potential for hydro power is fully realized.”

No investment decision has yet been taken by Drax and development remains subject to an appropriate regulatory framework among other considerations.

Drax supplies renewable electricity to UK businesses from a portfolio of assets in England and Scotland. The assets include the UK’s largest power station, based at Selby, North Yorkshire, which supplies 5% of the country’s electricity needs. Its pumped storage, hydro and energy from waste assets in Scotland include the Cruachan Power Station. Drax’s purpose is to enable a zero-carbon, lower cost energy future. In 2019, the company announced a world-leading ambition to be carbon negative by 2030, using BECCS technology. 

Drax acquired Cruachan alongside the Galloway and Lanark hydro schemes in 2019.