Helen McArdle, News Reporter
PLANS for a renewables storage scheme on the Isle of Lewis which could
power 200,000 homes will be unveiled today.
The proposals from Eishken Limited would see a battery-style installation
built next to a windfarm on the island which would be capable of generating
300 megawatts (MW) of electricity.
The large pumped storage hydro (PSH) scheme will store electricity,
principally generated by windfarms on Lewis. It will also double the use of
the Western Isles Link, the cable being installed by the National Grid to
export and import electricity generated from renewable energy sources on
the islands.
The island community will also share in any financial surplus from the sale
of electricity to the Grid.
Eishken estimate that more than 150 jobs will be created during the three
to five-year construction period.
Pumped storage facilities are relatively rare in the UK compared to
continental Europe, the United States and Asia – particularly Japan – but
essentially act like huge batteries storing electricity.
The operate by pumping water uphill from a lower reservoir to a second
reservoir at a higher level. When demand for electricity is high, the
stored water is released through generators situated at the foot of the
hill into the lower reservoir.
The technology is proven and has been in use for nearly a century although
none have been built in the UK for the last 30 years. At present, such
facilities operate commercially without government financial assistance
schemes.
However, the Eishken scheme with use the sea as the “second reservoir” in
its design, with water extracted from and returned to the waters off the
coast of Lewis.
This means the design has a much lower environmental impact because it
eliminates the need to construct a reservoir and also makes the
installation easier, cheaper and quicker to build.
Nick Oppenheim, chief executive of Eishken Limited, said: “Although using
the sea as the lower reservoir is new to the UK, the technology is proven
in Asia.”
He added: “There are very few PSH schemes throughout the UK and what we are
proposing is particularly innovative given the use of the sea as the lower
reservoir.
“This scheme will not only materially enhance the benefits to be derived
from the Western Isles link but will make a material difference in the
supply of energy to the mainland. It will also be a key element in the
Scotland’s renewable energy armoury.”
The Lewis development will be located next to and incorporated into the
already consented 162MW Muaitheabhal Wind Farm.
It will allow some of the electricity generated by the windfarm to be
stored up until required, helping to balance out the unpredictable nature
of wind energy.
Eishken Ltd is expected to seek consent for the scheme later this year.
Aecom, the international infrastructure design and engineering consultancy,
is advising Eishken on the technical aspects of this project.
The project is in line with a Scottish Government target to generate the
equivalent of 100 per cent of Scotland’s gross annual electricity
consumption from renewable sources by 2020.
Similarly, a target has been set for renewables sources to provide the
equivalent of 11 per cent of Scotland’s heat demand by 2020.
Renewables overtook nuclear in volume of electricity output in the first
half of 2014, and matched the output from fossil fuel generation a year
earlier.
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