Neil Gray MSP, the Scottish Government’s cabinet secretary for energy, has called on the UK Government to provide developers with “certainty” for new pumped storage hydro (PSH) plants.
Gray had been inclined to throw weight behind PSH technologies in order to support plans by Drax, an electric services company, to progress a 600MW underground PSH plant in Scotland. This has been thrown into jeopardy due to a lack of framework for long-duration electricity storage.
The lack of an existing government framework to support long-duration electricity storage and flexibility technologies means private investment cannot be secured for new pumped storage hydro projects. This has resulted in no new plants having been built since Dinorwig in North Wales in 1984.
Neil Gray said: “Scotland is a global leader in the production of renewable energy, which will play an increasingly important role in the transition to a net zero electricity system by 2045.
“However, pumped hydro storage, an important low carbon technology, is currently ineligible for UK Government support. UK Government inaction on this issue represents a significant obstacle to progress and risks failing to secure economic benefits, such as creating thousands of good quality, green jobs.”
PSH well could be an important technology in achieving net zero. It can be used to complement intermittent energy generation by releasing power when there is a spike in demand. This is done by using reversible turbines to pump water from a lower reservoir to an upper reservoir which stores excess power from sources such as wind farms when supply outstrips demand.
These same turbines are then reversed to bring the stored water back through the plant to generate power when the country needs it.
Mercia PR, RheEnergise partner to provide 100MW of long-duration storage by 2030
In other long-duration storage news, Mercia Power Response and RheEnergise have partnered to explore the deployment of long-duration hydro-energy storage.
Mercia, who offers flexible power response services to the UK grid, will work with the long-duration energy storage developer to identify suitable locations to deploy RheEnergise’s HD Hydro storage projects.
The initial focus will look at the feasibility of getting 100MW of HD Hydro in commercial operation by 2030 by utilising Mercia PR’s existing grid connections.
RheEnergise has developed a hydro-energy storage solution that can operate on low hills rather than just mountains, which creates an opportunity an order of magnitude greater than traditional pumped hydro.
Key to the solution is the use of the company’s High-Density Fluid R-19, which is 2.5x denser than water. Because of the high density of the fluid, projects can not only be constructed in areas with less elevation, but they can also be up to 2.5x smaller than traditional pumped hydro projects for the same energy.
Stephen Crosher, chief executive of RheEnergise, said: “Mercia PR’s experience in flexible power response and its deep knowledge of the UK energy system will be hugely beneficial to the RheEnergise team. Our HD Hydro technology can provide medium and long duration energy storage, which is becoming increasingly important as the UK moves towards Net Zero and with a UK energy system that is increasingly reliant on intermittent renewables. We are delighted that Mercia PR has chosen to work with us.”
Graham White, CEO of Mercia PR added: “It is very exciting to explore how we can engage with RheEnergise’s HD Hydro technology, applying our expertise in finding the right locations, developing sites, getting grid connections and operating within the Capacity Market. We see enormous potential for HD Hydro deployment as a future low-carbon alternative to our existing gas-powered assets.”