SSE Generation Ltd, the wholly owned generation business of Scottish and Southern Energy (SSE), has received consent from the Scottish Government to develop a 60MW pumped storage scheme at its existing Sloy hydroelectric power station at Loch Lomond.
Commissioned in 1950, Sloy is currently the largest conventional hydro station in the UK and was the first scheme built by the North of Scotland Hydro Electric Board (NoSHEB). The construction of a new pumping station will enable SSE to provide an additional 100GWh of electricity in a typical year to help meet peak demand.
It’s not the first time that the Sloy site has been considered for pumped storage, as far back as the late 1930’s NoSHEB considered building the original station as a pumped storage scheme.
Construction of the pumped storage scheme is likely to start in 2012 and will take around two years.