Plans  for a new hydro pumped storage plant making use of an abandoned opencast coal mine for its water storage took a step forward this week, when developers applied for an electricity generation licence.

The planned Glen Muckloch plant, near Kirkconnel, Scotland, would be capable of generating 400MW but would respond to price and system signals, pumping water to a reservoir when power is abundant and releasing it to generate when more power is needed. The reservoir would be formed installed in abandoned mine.

The project is being developed by a group that includes Buccleuch Estates and 2020 Renewables and it has won the backing of Dumfries and Galloway Council. Plans have now been submitted to the Scottish Government for approval. If it got the go-ahead it would take six years to construct.

There are also plans to install wind turbines at the mine site.

A similar pumped storage project in Wales, the Quarry Battery Company,  aims to use an abandoned slate quarry to install a 50MW pumped storage plant. That project, at Glyn Rhonwy, won support from Gwynedd council in 2013.

 

Related content:

Risk vs reward: adding storage to a renewable energy site

Energy storage: legal and regulatory barriers to overcome

Storage ‘could be an expert industry for the UK’

 

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