{"id":370071,"date":"2025-03-15T09:15:31","date_gmt":"2025-03-15T08:15:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=370071"},"modified":"2025-03-15T09:15:33","modified_gmt":"2025-03-15T08:15:33","slug":"loch-ness-hydro-storage-plans-worry-locals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=370071","title":{"rendered":"Loch Ness Hydro Storage Plans Worry\u00a0Locals"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From NOT A LOT OF PEOPLE KNOW THAT<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Paul Homewood<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A surprisingly balanced article in the Guardian:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/environment\/2025\/mar\/12\/loch-ness-hydro-storage-schemes-scotland<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The article discusses plans to build hydro storage schemes in the Scottish Highlands, but also looks at the genuine environmental concerns, not least the effect of rapidly changing water levels in lochs on salmon. The Guardian report:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBrian Shaw stood at the edge of Loch Ness and pointed to a band of glistening pebbles and damp sand skirting the shore. It seemed as if the tide had gone out.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Overnight, Foyers, a small pumped-storage power station, had recharged itself, drawing up millions of litres of water into a reservoir high up on a hill behind it, ready for release through its turbines to boost the UK\u2019s electricity supply. That led to the surface of Loch Ness, the largest body of freshwater in the UK, falling by 14cm in a matter of hours.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Shaw, an expert in freshwater salmon who runs the Ness District Salmon Fishery Board, believes this is a warning of things to come. \u201cI had a complaint about the level of Loch Ness dropping by a foot overnight,\u201d he said, gesturing at the shore. \u201cIt\u2019s actually dropped six inches over the course of the day. That wouldn\u2019t happen naturally.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Glen Earrach\u2019s proposals have fuelled anxiety locally. It is the third such plan proposed for Loch Ness but also the largest by far.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

More than a dozen agencies, conservation bodies and local businesses have lodged objections or raised questions about Glen Earrach with the Scottish government\u2019s energy consents unit, which oversees power station applications.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Its critics fear that if all four plants are approved, that could significantly affect the loch\u2019s delicate ecology, its migrating salmon and trout, its leisure cruising firms and its archaeological sites, including a prehistoric crannog, or human-made island.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Glen Earrach is by far the biggest of the proposed storage schemes, with capacity of 30 GWh at a cost of \u00a33 billion. There are the usual claims that such schemes will \u201cprovide an energy reserve to cope with peak demand and wind-free days.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

But how much difference will 30 GWh make? (To put it into perspective, Dinorwig, the main storage we have currently, has capacity of 9 GWh).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The CCC\u2019s 7th Carbon Budget wants 88 GW of offshore and 32 GW of onshore wind by 2040. This would on average offer about 48 GW.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To cover for those \u201cwindless days\u201d, Glen Earrach\u2019s 30 GWh would only cover that missing wind power for 37 minutes..<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In reality, Glen Earrach would only ever be used for managing peak demand, as with Dinorwig. You can forget about it covering for days and weeks of low wind.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And we will have to fork out \u00a33 billion for something that we only need because of overreliance on intermittent wind power and the maniacal drive to close gas power stations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The CCC\u2019s 7th Carbon Budget wants 88 GW of offshore and 32 GW of onshore wind by 2040. This would on average offer about 48 GW.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":121246920,"featured_media":370075,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","_crdt_document":"","advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[691833824,691819811,691820158,691833823,691821753,691833822,691818262],"class_list":{"0":"post-370071","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","6":"hentry","7":"category-uncategorized","8":"tag-cccs-7th-carbon-budget","9":"tag-hydro-storage","10":"tag-loch-ness","11":"tag-ness-district-salmon-fishery-board","12":"tag-scottish-highlands","13":"tag-small-pumped-storage-power-station","14":"tag-the-guardian","16":"fallback-thumbnail"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/0-Loch-Ness-hydro-storage.jpeg?fit=1628%2C1080&ssl=1","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paxLW1-1ygT","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":368398,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=368398","url_meta":{"origin":370071,"position":0},"title":"CCC\u2019s Carbon Budget Does Not Add\u00a0Up","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"03\/03\/2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Overall the CCC\u2019s report seems to have less detail and technical input than previous budgets, and electricity supply is no exception. 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