Question

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what assessment her Department has made of the potential contribution of hydro-pumped storage projects to the UK electricity system.

Energy storage is one way to provide flexibility to the energy system, alongside demand side response, interconnection and smarter networks. The Department of Energy and Climate Change continues to assess the potential for all forms of energy storage, including pumped hydro, to benefit the UK energy system.

With support from a DECC innovation grant, a UK pumped hydro storage developer has assessed the potential location of new pumped hydro sites around Great Britain. They concluded that up to 15GW of novel pumped storage could be possible, using various criteria such as the presence of existing or potential reservoirs, grid connection distance and whether the site is in an environmentally sensitive area. Other pumped storage developers have independently identified over 1 GW of additional potential pumped storage.