Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, whether her Department has made an assessment of the potential impact of pumped hydro storage on base load requirements in (a) Scotland and (b) the UK.

In 2021 we commissioned external analysis from AFRY,[1] to understand the role that long-duration energy storage could play in the system across Great Britain, how much may be required over different periods of time and the benefits of different technologies including pumped hydro storage. The analysis highlighted that storage technologies were able to effectively address the increasingly seasonal balancing requirements that emerge in a weather-driven electricity system.

[1] Benefits of long-duration electricity storage (2022), BEIS. Available from: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/benefits-of-long-duration-electricity-storage