By Rose Bell
As UK’s first large-scale pumped storage scheme to be developed in 40 years, exploratory tunneling at the site has reached 1000m.
On December 2022 exploratory works at Coire Glas was commenced at Loch Lochy in the Great Glen in the Scottish Highlands and are being conducted by Strabag, a world leader in mining and tunneling projects.
So far work involved the creation of a tunnel around 4.5 metres wide, which is cut into the hillside, towards the proposed location of the underground powerhouse complex.
In order to achieving information on the geological conditions to inform the detailed design for the main works, this tunnel is building.
The quantity of long duration storage following completion by Coire Glas wil be 30GWh, whereas the scheme would take excess energy from the grid and use it to pump water 500 metres up hill from Loch Lochy to a vast upper reservoir equivalent to nearly 11,000 Olympic-sized swimming pools where it would be stored before being released to power the grid at a time when demand is high and/or other variable generation is low.
Involving two bodies of water at different heights, pumped storage schemes use electricity to pump water from the lower loch to the upper reservoir, storing energy during periods of low demand and/or surplus generation, whie the energy is released by using the water to generate hydro-electricity at a time when demand is high and/or other variable generation is low.
Considering that Coire Glas has a large lower reservoir (Loch Lochy) and a significant elevation of more than 500m between the lower and the new upper reservoir site over a relatively short distance, was selected.
Of the project’s estimated cost of over £1.5 Billion, more than 70% is in the civil engineering structures.
