Wales will construct the first energy storage plant of 30 years after the Crown Estate - the state-owned landowner in the U.K. on Thursday agreed to lease land in North Wales.
The Crown Estate has agreed to lease 13 hectares of land in North Wales for the £160 million, about $242 million, Glyn Rhonwy storage project, planned to be completed in 2019.
Dinorwig in Wales is currently Britain’s largest pumped storage project with 1.7 gigawatts of capacity and was built 30 years ago. Now, the Snowdonia Pumped Hydro company will build a grid-scale electricity storage facility near the town of Llanberis, in northern Wales.
The hydro plant project with storage capabilities will pump the water in the lower reservoir to a higher reservoir when electricity demand is low and store it until demand is high when electricity is required. The stored water will be released back to the lower reservoir to generate electricity when power demand is at peak levels.
Pumping would normally happen during the night, making use of the cheaper electricity cost, according to the company web-page.
The facility is expected to have a life-span of 125 years and supply 600 megawatt hours of renewable energy into the U.K. grid.
“We’re pleased to be enabling Snowdonia Pumped Hydro's plans for a pumped hydro scheme, which could deliver long-term benefits to the local community but also contribute to a secure and sustainable energy supply for the nation as a whole,” Malcolm Burns, Crown Estate portfolio manager for Wales added.
By Zeynep Beyza Karabay
Anadolu Agency
zeynep.karabay@aa.com.tr