A leading conservation body claims plans for Scotland's biggest-ever hydro scheme should be blocked because it would use more energy than it could produce.
Wild land charity the John Muir Trust insists SSE's Coire Glas scheme cannot be classed as a renewable source of green energy, and warns if it gets the go-ahead in the hills to the north-west of Loch Lochy and the Great Glen it would simply attract other developers wanting to build wind farms nearby.
The scheme, which is capable of powering up to one million homes, would be a pumped storage operation using water descending from an upper reservoir to drive turbines during period of high demand. During periods of low demand, electricity would be used to pump water from the lower loch back to the upper reservoir.
Ben Cruachan at Loch Awe was the last such new scheme to be built in Scotland, opening in 1965, but 10 years later the conventional scheme at Foyers on Loch Ness reopened as a pump storage station.
The cost of the Coire Glas scheme is currently estimated at £800 million and it would be one of the largest construction projects in Scotland, creating about 150 jobs.
It would require the construction of a 300ft dam and upper reservoir at Loch a' Choire Ghlais. A powerhouse complex would be constructed underground, together with a series of tunnels to provide access and convey water between the lower reservoir (Loch Lochy) and the upper reservoir, thereby reducing the visual impact.
However, an administration building and jetty, tunnel portals and tailrace structure would be built on the shores of Loch Lochy.
Because of its size, it will be ministers who decide whether it gets the green light, and SSE lodged an application with the Scottish Government in February. But by law, the local planning authority has to be consulted and today Highland Council's local planning committee will visit the site. Tomorrow it will decide whether to object, and automatically trigger a public inquiry.
The council's planning officials have recommended councillors do not object, subject to a long list of conditions.
However, the John Muir Trust believes the scheme should be opposed, because pumped storage is not a renewable technology. It believes the proposed development would have a major detrimental impact on the area.
In its submission, the Trust says pumped storage uses more electricity to pump the water to the upper reservoirs than is generated when it flows down.
"The Trust believes that if the minister grants planning permission for the Coire Glas scheme it will lead to further inappropriate and unnecessary development in the surrounding landscape," the submission states. "This may come from developers keen to build wind farms close to a source of energy storage, or from others who see this as an opening for further development in the area.
"This precedent would make it increasingly difficult to challenge proposals in future, leading to the potential encirclement and encroachment of wild land by development."
An SSE spokesman argued energy storage was vital to the development of green energy.
He said: "We believe increased pumped storage capacity has an important role to play in balancing the grid – using surplus energy when demand is low and makingit rapidly available when itis needed.
"Both conventional and pumped storage hydro schemes already have a strong track record of providing clean, flexible electricity generation for Scotland."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article