Drax granted approval for £500 million pumped storage hydropower plant

• 1 year, 3 months ago (2023-07-27)
• David Flin

Europe 1088 Hydropower 131

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The Scottish Government has formally approved Drax Group ’s plans to build a £500 million underground pumped storage hydropower plant at its existing Cruachan facility in Argyll, Scotland.

Will Gardiner, CEO of the Drax Group, said: “This is a major milestone in Drax’s plans to build Britain’s first new pumped storage hydropower plant in a generation. With the right support from the UK Government, Drax will invest approximately £500 million to more than double Cruachan’s generating capacity with a 600 MW facility and support almost 1000 jobs across the supply chain during construction.”

Humza Yousaf, First Minister of Scotland, said: “Hydropower 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. The expansion of Cruachan will help strengthen our energy security by providing much-needed resilience in the system.”