Renewable energy company Drax has appointed COWI and PINI in a new joint venture to optimise its plans to build the UK’s first new pumped storage hydro plant in almost 40 years. Drax is progressing an option to expand its existing Cruachan pumped storage facility in Scotland through the construction of a new 600 MW power station.
Built adjacent to the existing underground plant, the new power station would effectively more than double the site’s total generation capacity to more than 1GW. Constructed within a new hollowed-out cavern, more than two million tonnes of rock and soil would be excavated to create this and other parts of the power station. The existing upper reservoir, which can hold 2.4bn gallons of water, has the capacity to serve both power stations.
COWI and PINI will provide dedicated support through the project’s Front-End Engineering and Design (FEED) phase, with their expertise in pumped storage hydro being used in areas such as civil and marine engineering, geotechnics, mechanical and electrical systems.
Andy Sloan, Managing Director, COWI in the UK, said: “COWI is thrilled to support Drax on this vital project and continue to play a key role in the revival of pumped storage in Scotland. This project allows us to apply our expertise in rock mechanics and tunnel engineering to a renewable energy initiative.
“Hydroelectric developments offer tremendous potential for addressing long-term energy storage needs, paving our way to a greener, more sustainable future for generations to come.”
The appointment of the joint venture comes just a few weeks after the UK Government confirmed it would be moving ahead with a new investment framework to support long duration electricity storage technologies, including pumped storage hydro.
In addition to the proposed construction of a new plant, Drax is currently progressing an £80 million major refurbishment of its existing Cruachan site. The refurbishment will see original parts replaced and the generating capacity of the power station upgraded from 440MW to 480MW.
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