Coire Glas power station
| Coire Glas Power Station | |
|---|---|
The proposed site of the upper reservoir at Coire Glas | |
Coire Glas Power Station Location of Coire Glas Power Station in Scotland | |
| Country | Scotland |
| Location | Coire Glas |
| Coordinates | 57°00′47″N 4°55′08″W / 57.013°N 4.919°W |
| Status | Proposed |
| Owner | SSE |
| Power Station | |
| Hydraulic head | 500 m (1,600 ft) |
| Pump-generators | 4 × 324 MW |
| Installed capacity | 1296 MW |
| Website www | |
| Upper reservoir: Loch a' Choire Ghlais Lower body of water: Loch Lochy | |
Coire Glas power station is a proposed 1.3 GW pumped storage hydroelectric power station in the Scottish Highlands. If built, it will double the UK's ability to store energy for long periods.[1][2][3]
Geography
Loch Lochy lies along the Great Glen of Scotland, at an elevation of 29 m above ordnance datum (AOD).[4][2]
Above its north-western shore, the Munro mountain Sròn a' Choire Ghairbh reaches a height of 937 m. The northeast slope of the summit forms the headwall of the Coire Glas, a horseshoe-shaped glacial corrie. The corrie tarn, Loch a' Choire Ghlais, lies at an elevation over 500 m AOD.
Proposal
Damming the mouth of the Coire Glas valley will create the upper reservoir. The crest of the dam will be around 700 m long and 92 m above ground level at its tallest point. When full, the reservoir will be approximately 1 km long and 500 m across,[2]: Figure 3.1 with a maximum surface area of 0.63 km2. The water level will vary between 494 m and 558 m AOD. The storable volume of 25.9 million cubic metres,[5] corresponds to a variation of 1.5 m in the level of the 1720 ha[6] Loch Lochy.
A sloping headrace tunnel will take water down from the upper reservoir through the mountain to a vertical high-pressure shaft leading down to turbines located in a cavern within the mountain itself, and thence to an upwards-sloping tailrace discharging into Loch Lochy. The turbines, motor-generator sets and water channels are reversible, so that water from the loch can be pumped back uphill to store electrical energy when needed.[5]
As of May 2023, the power station is planned to have four 324 MW turbines with a total generating capacity of 1300 MW. When full, the system would store 30 GWh of energy, enough for 24 hours of non-stop generation at full output. The power station would be able to switch from standby to stable generation within 30 seconds.[3]
Current status
The project has been granted planning consent, and sizeable preliminary works have been undertaken, including driving a one-kilometre long exploratory tunnel into the mountainside.
In September 2025, OFGEM assessed the Coire Glas Project as being eligible for the next stage of the UK government's cap and floor funding mechanism for Long Duration Energy Storage.[7][8]
Project history
A 600 MW scheme was first approved in 2013.[9]
The Scottish Government approved the scheme in 2020.[1]
In March 2023, SSE announced plans to spend £100M in exploratory work, including drilling a tunnel 1 km into the mountainside to assess the geology.[1]
In 2023, a final investment decision depended on UK government assurances about how the regulated electricity market would reward storage schemes. SSE hoped to make that £1.5bn decision in 2024, in which case the scheme could be completed in 2031.[1]
In August 2024, the roughly 5-metre-wide and 1.2 km long exploratory tunnel was completed, yielding geological insights for the main construction.[10]
See also
References
- ^ a b c d James Cook (21 March 2023). "£100m boost for biggest UK hydro scheme in decades". BBC News: Highlands and Islands. BBC. Retrieved 21 March 2023.
- ^ a b c "Coire Glas planning documents". Coire Glas. SSE. Retrieved 21 March 2023.
- ^ a b "Coire Glas Stakeholder Briefing" (PDF). Coireglas. SSE Renewables. May 2023. Retrieved 27 January 2024.
- ^ "map". Open Topo Map. Open Topomap. Retrieved 21 March 2023.
- ^ a b "Revised Coire Glas Pumped Storage Scheme: chapter 3" (PDF). SSE. Retrieved 21 March 2023.
- ^ "Loch Lochy". Centre for Ecology and Hydrology. Scotland and Northern Ireland Forum for Environmental Research (SNIFFER). Retrieved 27 April 2025.
- ^ "LDES Eligibility Assessment Outcome" (PDF). OfGEM. 23 September 2025. Retrieved 25 September 2025.
- ^ "Ofgem advances 77 long duration energy storage schemes in bid for cap-and-floor mechanism". New Civil Engineer. 25 September 2025. Retrieved 25 September 2025.
- ^ Lynas, Matthew (20 March 2025). "UK developers seek consent for 36 GWh Fearna Pumped Hydro project". Energy Storage. Retrieved 7 May 2025.
- ^ "National Tunnelling Day and Santa Barbara Celebrations at Coire Glas with Invergarry Primary School". Coire Glass News. SSE. 8 December 2023. Retrieved 28 January 2024.
In the afternoon, the children were welcomed back to site to attend a tunnel blessing ceremony with Father Danny from Roy Bridge Parish. The ceremony was held at the face of the tunnel, which is now at over 720m in to the hillside.