Snowdonia Pumped Hydro, which intends to build a 600 MWh pumped electricity storage facility at Glyn Rhonwy near Llanberis under planning approval granted in late 2013, is applying to increase the output of the facility from 49.9MW to 99.9MW.
The proposed change in output would be achieved simply by increasing the capacity of the underground turbines and associated equipment. In every other respect the revised facility would remain identical to that approved by Gwynedd Council.
The decision to apply for the change has been reached following talks with the UK government’s Department of Energy and Climate Change, and construction company partners. Britain’s energy needs have evolved since the scheme was designed and the government has included storage within the 2014 Electricity Market Reform Act with the aim of helping to ensure that Britain does not suffer blackouts.
The higher output will enable the Glyn Rhonwy facility to play a larger role in the new market, making it even more useful in balancing supply and demand as the percentage of renewables supplying power to the UK’s electricity grid continues to increase. The facility is expected to achieve carbon payback in around six months.
With construction work due to begin at the site next year, the application to amend the output of the scheme is being made to the UK Planning Inspectorate which has responsibility for power generation installations with outputs of 50MW or more. Gwynedd Council, along with other local stakeholders that also gave their assent to the original scheme, will be the Planning Inspectorate’s primary consultees.
“The revised scheme is identical in every respect to the original one, save for the size of the buried equipment,” said SPH managing director Dave Holmes. “I can’t say this any more clearly: nothing above ground would change.
“The capacity of the facility would remain 600 MWh, the overall footprint of the site would stay the same, the reservoirs and dams would remain the same, the pipe that connects the two reservoirs would be the same size and remain buried, and the plant house on the Glyn Rhonwy industrial park would also remain the same size. To achieve the increase in output we would simply install larger turbines and associated equipment underground. It’s therefore hugely frustrating for us, and for all the stakeholders consulted as part of the original planning process, that we have to go around the block again.
“However, we’re doing it because with the change in the UK’s energy landscape as a result of the creation of the Capacity Market the gains from the uplift in output both for the scheme, and for the local community, are overwhelmingly positive.”
Raising the output of the facility to 99.9MW would be expected to generate rates payments to Gwynedd Council of approximately £600,000 a year. In addition, QBC has pledged to establish an independent trust to manage community contributions from the facility, including an initial grant of £325,000 and annual payments of £15,000.
Snowdonia Pumped Hydro was created by parent company Quarry Battery Company, to take the Glyn Rhonwy scheme forward to construction and operation. QBC was founded from a concept developed at the Centre For Alternative Technology near Machynlleth. The company’s scheme for Glyn Rhonwy was designed in consultation with AECOM, Gwynedd Council, Cadw, Countryside Council For Wales and Environment Agency Wales (now Natural Resources Wales).
