Electricity storage scheme on Lewis
23rd August 2016 | Residential Energy
An electricity storage scheme on Lewis would provide electricity for 200,000 homes has been unveiled. The proposal from Eishken will see a battery-style installation built next to a windfarm on the island which will be capable of generating 300 megawatts (MW) of electricity.
Eishken estimate that more than 150 jobs will be created during the three to five year construction period.
The large pumped storage hydro (PSH) scheme will store electricity, mostly generated by windfarms on Lewis. It will also double the use of the Western Isles Link, which is a cable being installed by the National Grid to import and export electricity generated from renewable energy sources on the islands.
PSH schemes are rare in the UK compared to Europe, United States and Asia (especially Japan), but essentially act like huge batteries to store electricity. The operate by pumping water uphill from a lower reservoir to a higher one and when demand for electricity is high, the stored water is released through generators situated at the foot of the hill into the lower reservoir.
This technology has not been used in the UK for 30 years, but has been around for almost a century. The Eishken scheme will use the sea as the lower reservoir in its design, thus lower installation costs as only one reservoir will be required to be constructed.
The project is in line with a Scottish Government target to generate the equivalent of Scotland’s gross annual electricity consumption from renewable sources by 2020.
More information available on the website below