Yes, I do have an alert that allows reports in the Sun. It’s important as even more folk read it than watch BBC Scotland News.
In the Sun, two days ago:
A HUGE dam nicknamed ‘Britain’s biggest battery’ is due to be built on the shores of a Scottish loch and is expected to provide power for millions of homes.
Coire Glas is the name of the huge energy storage facility that will harness power from water as it falls 1,640 feet in the Scottish Highlands.
Wait, 3 million homes?
As of 2023, there were an estimated 2.54 million households in Scotland, which is a 14% increase from 2003. https://www.nrscotland.gov.uk/news/2023/number-of-households-continues-to-increase
It’s too big! Is it too late to trim the contract? What will we do with electricity for nearly half a million households. England won’t buy it. They’ll be in the huff after independence and buy it from the EU which they love so much.
More SNP waste and incompetence? How many ferries can you buy with half a million?
Talking-up Scotland 'Albatraz' 
Why foesvourcejected SNP government allow England to build these schemes in Scotland which we neither need nor want. We are also getting hideously big pylons marching through our countryside to take power generated in Scotlabd to our energy poor but greedy southern neighbour.
Enough is enough. We must tell the Holyrood government tovresist this dam, as like the pylons, it is of no benefit at all to Scotland.
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You’ll have a hard job telling the Scottish Government to resist the dam – they approved planning consent for it four years ago.
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Honestly, that is perhaps the most stupid thing I’ve ever read! Hydro power is the best source of renewable energy and it is precisely what every country that can do it, needs. Ask Norway!
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Perhaps we could donate the excess electricity to Keir Starmer and his senior colleagues to offset their energy costs as ,it appears , they have need of any freebie that is available to eke out their paltry salaries .
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It is a long time since the Cruachan scheme was built which demonstrated the feasibility of such projects at a time when UK Government policy was about oil, gas and nuclear, with some continuing coal use.
Such schemes were for ‘remote areas’, like Scotland.
The main drawback is higher start up costs – the Cruachan scheme entails hollowing out a mountain. This kind of expenditure is often too much for governments which usually think only in terms of 4/5 year election cycles and, for many investors, this kind of time frame is too long to make a quick profit. Such schemes can fall foul of the neoliberal Thatcherite economics which UK governments have adhered to for 50 years and which Reeves appears to have adopted. It is based on discredited notions of debt and the badness of public expenditure, even for capital projects.
Because of Scotland’s enormous renewables potential, like the oil and gas discovery in the North Sea, which was suppressed by the then Labour Government, Scotland can become one of the wealthiest countries in the World. Westminster cannot allow that. So, it has created British Energy to be based in Aberdeen …… for now! Labour set up BRITISH OIL – based in St Vincent St in Glasgow – to asset strip Scotland for oil and gas companies. Then Thatcher privatised it and St Vincent St offices were flogged off. The egregious and personally greedy present Labour cabinet members no doubt have the same plans for renewables and is updating the National Grid to facilitate rapid transfer of energy to England. And, in all likelihood, the upgraded National Grid will still charge Scottish customers more for ‘transmission charges’ because we are ‘remote’ – remote from London, that is, not remote from where the electricity is generated. Against all the laws of physics apparently the electricity generated has to travel to London to be sent back to Scotland.
Octopus Energy has a scheme whereby ‘transmission charges’ can be localised. But, the question is, ‘Has it given the Labour Party a big enough ‘bung’?’
Alasdair Macdonald
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” This kind of expenditure is often too much for governments which usually think only in terms of 4/5 year election cycles and, for many investors, this kind of time frame is too long to make a quick profit. “- The British disease….
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It’s interesting to read what appear to be negative btl comments about enhancing renewable energy generation and energy storage capacity in Scotland by means of the Coire Glas scheme.
It’s notable how an independent country not unlike Scotland viz. Norway has utilised in the past and, more importantly in the context of this thread, recognises for the future the strategic value of hydropower.
What follows comes from a useful and very readable report: DNV (2023) Energy transition Norway 2023 – a national forecast to 2050. Report commissioned by Norse Industri (Federation of Norwegian Industries) (https://www.norskindustri.no/siteassets/dokumenter/rapporter-og-brosjyrer/energy-transition-norway/2023/energy-transition-norway-2023.pdf)
Here are some key messages (with my emphasis). From the foreword: ‘All renewables are weather-dependent, and we should expect intense supply and demand dynamics at national, regional, and local levels. Balancing the grid requires hydropower plants, huge numbers of batteries, and data-driven algorithms working in real time.’
On exports: ’Europe depends on Norwegian gas to meet demand and stabilize the geopolitical situation. This demand is expected to increase in the short term but decline steeply in the long term. Norway can maintain its significant market share in energy supply to Europe, but through a new export mix of electricity alongside hydrogen (initially blue and then green) and ammonia as energy carriers. Again, this cannot be achieved without sufficient renewable power.’
On electricity supply: ‘Historically, Norway’s electricity supply has been dominated by hydropower (Figure 3.7), and up to 2005, over 99% of domestic electricity was supplied by this source. At that point, other technologies started to make inroads, such that in 2022 non-hydro electricity generation was 14%, split as 8% from wind, 1.5% from gas, 0.3% from biomass and 0.2% each from coal and solar PV. The rest comes from imported electricity.’
Looking forward: ‘In the future, we foresee an even more diverse production mix. Grid-connected electricity will triple from 2022 to 2050 while hydropower generation grows by only 16%. The remainder of the gap will be closed mostly by wind. Onshore wind has seen significant growth. However, public and in some cases judicial opposition (Supreme Court of Norway, 2021) combined with what amounts to almost a halt in the issuance of new concessions will limit onshore wind growth in the short term.’
‘From the 2030s, offshore wind, with policies favouring floating more than fixed, will grow rapidly, driven by reduced costs, sustained government support, and increasing opportunities for the trade of electricity. 2050 electricity generation will include 6% solar PV, <0.5% gas, 10% onshore wind and 42% offshore wind (mostly exported). The remaining 39% will be hydropower-based.’
And ‘With increased variability on the supply side of the electricity system with a growing share of wind, hydropower will need to respond to fluctuations not only in demand, but also in generation. Adoption of new technologies allowing hydropower plants to ramp up and down more rapidly will be instrumental in the integration of hydropower and wind. With new interconnections to the UK, Germany, and the rest of Scandinavia, Norwegian hydropower will expand its balancing role in the larger European power system.’
Lastly, on issues around energy generation capacity: ‘Power systems with considerable shares of variable renewable electricity sources (VRES) such as wind and solar face the ‘capture price’ problem. That is, since these technologies have near-zero marginal running costs, electricity prices tend towards zero during hours when electricity production from wind and solar are significant and plentiful. As more and more solar and wind enter the power system, the number of hours where electricity prices are zero tend to increase. This implies that the electricity prices these sources can capture, or demand tends to be low, thus leading to developers being uninterested in investing in these sources when revenue prospects diminish.
‘But we do not foresee this being a showstopper for Norway. The reason for this is that hydropower and pumped hydro, which have higher and stable variable costs, will counteract the variability of wind and solar and set the price in combination with the European electricity market. In 2050, hydropower will still have a non-trivial share of both hourly and yearly generation in Norway. Additionally, the ability to export wind power to other regions and gain revenue also offsets the declining ‘capture price’ problem.’
With apologies for length, it seemed worth sharing the views of the report’s authors that the value of having hydropower is not restricted just to its absolute capacity to contribute to meeting electricity demand but also includes its value as a less variable, balancing source of electricity within an energy mix characterised by increasing variability on the supply side.
Of course factors of the sort being considered for Norway’s energy future whilst they may be highly relevant when considering Scotland’s, as things stand our energy future is being mapped out for a Scotland as a region in the UK. As things stand, Scotland’s energy future is being determined by what England wants and needs.
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My thoughts exactly, the SG made the right decision to agree to this project. The more alternative production methods we have which absolutely negates and neutralises the argument being put forward for nuclear power, the better.
Golfnut
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Re. renewable energy sources , Scotland is still ignoring the untapped potential of connecting Jackie Baillie to the National Grid . During peak times her contribution to the Grid will be substantial and almost inexhaustible !
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Scotland’s largest dame – sorry dam. Silly me.
Andy P
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We may have fewer households than the potential 3 million that the dam can power. There are other types that can use the spare electricity such as schools, hospitals, businesses.
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Sorry John, but it’s more headline grabbing by the Sun than reality in referring to Coire Glas as enough to “power 3m homes”, that’s never been the purpose of pumped storage rather than to smooth out variations in supply and demand.
However gratifying it is to see SG’s renewables plan go from strength to strength despite London’s worst intentions, do bear in mind no matter how well we are safeguarded for the present, consider the future – As we progressively upgrade homes to reduce heat losses toward the 2040 target and catch up a ways with the Scandinavians, the ratio of renewables capacity to home demand will through the roof, and our existing grid will gain capacity…
We really do desperately need to escape London myopia…
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