If Coire Glas does get built it could be Scotland’s biggest ever pumped storage scheme. But how do such schemes work?
This video offers a walk through of how the scheme works:
Pumped storage schemes involve two bodies of water at different heights. During periods of low demand for power, electricity is used to pump water from the lower loch to the upper reservoir.
The water is released to create energy at a time when demand is high. A key advantage of developing a pumped storage scheme at Coire Glas is the site's proximity to a large lower reservoir (Loch Lochy).
There is significant elevation of around 500m between the upper and lower reservoir sites over a relatively short distance.
The proposed scheme involves constructing a dam and the creation of a new reservoir formed at Loch a' Choire Ghlais. Water will be transferred between the new reservoir and an underground powerhouse complex via a headrace tunnel; and between the underground power station and Loch Lochy via a tailrace tunnel.
It is envisaged that the construction period would last up to five years, with an average workforce of around 150 throughout this time and over 400 people employed at the peak of construction. Once completed the scheme would have minimal visual impact in the Great Glen.
Following several years of development, including extensive consultation with the local community an application for consent to build the proposed scheme was submitted to Scottish Ministers in February 2012.
A statutory consultation period has followed this submission, when members of the public and organisations could make formal representations to the planning authority. This has concluded with the Scottish Minister’s consent.
More information can be found at www.sse.com/coireglas