{"id":377844,"date":"2025-05-09T18:02:09","date_gmt":"2025-05-09T16:02:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=377844"},"modified":"2025-05-09T18:02:11","modified_gmt":"2025-05-09T16:02:11","slug":"drax-pull-cruachan-2-in-another-blow-to-mad-milibands-net-zero-plans","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=377844","title":{"rendered":"Drax Pull Cruachan 2, In Another Blow To Mad Miliband\u2019s Net Zero\u00a0Plans"},"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

h\/t Ian Cunningham<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The idiot Miliband\u2019s plans continue to unravel:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The operator of an underground power station at Scotland\u2019s “Hollow Mountain” has put on hold its plans for a major expansion of the site.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Renewables developer Drax had proposed building a new hydro-electric facility next to its existing complex inside Ben Cruachan, near Dalmally in Argyll.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

But it said the costs of the project had risen and it would not be bidding for UK government support at this time.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The company said the expansion could potentially go-ahead in the future, “subject to an appropriate balance of risk and return”.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The existing underground power station was opened by Queen Elizabeth II in 1965.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the time, it was the first large-scale reversible turbine storage energy project of its kind in the world.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is housed within a huge cavern dug out inside Ben Cruachan, which is nicknamed Hollow Mountain because of the project.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Drax had proposed investing \u00a3500m in the construction project over seven years.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last year, it completed initial design and engineering work for a 600MW expansion of Cruachan.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The company said: “Drax believes that the Cruachan II project is well aligned with the long-term system need for flexible generation and energy storage and, given its location, is well placed to support system constraints between Scotland and England.”<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It added: “Drax remains committed to disciplined capital expenditure which seeks to balance the risk and return of individual projects against other uses of capital, to maximise value.”<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Full story here.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The simple fact is that the \u00a3500 million project, funded of course by government subsidies, would barely have made a dent in the black hole created by intermittent wind power.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cruachan 2 would be able to supply about two hours worth of electricity at its rated output of 600 MW, roughly 1 GWh. That\u2019s enough to keep the UK grid going for about a minute or two.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Drax would need the government to pay for all of that investment one way or another, as the project would have little commercial value otherwise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This latest ploy is intended to force the deluded Miliband to fork out yet more taxpayer money.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

The operator of an underground power station at Scotland\u2019s “Hollow Mountain” has put on hold its plans for a major expansion of the site.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":121246920,"featured_media":377848,"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":[691834959,691821577,691818854,691834957,691834958],"class_list":{"0":"post-377844","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","6":"hentry","7":"category-uncategorized","8":"tag-cruachan-ii-project","9":"tag-drax","10":"tag-government-subsidies","11":"tag-hydro-power-plant","12":"tag-scotlands-hollow-mountain","14":"fallback-thumbnail"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/0DSC4756-1024x1024-1.jpg?fit=1024%2C1024&ssl=1","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paxLW1-1Aig","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":416446,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=416446","url_meta":{"origin":377844,"position":0},"title":"Scotland\u2019s 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