Foresight Energy Infrastructure Partners (FEIP), Foresight Group’s energy transition fund, is backing the development of a new pumped storage hydro project in Ireland.
The 148-hectare (366-acre) site is located in Tipperary on the northern ridge of the Silvermines Mountain range. The project will use the existing void to create a lower reservoir and see the creation of a second upper reservoir just below the crest of the hilltop. Once developed, each reservoir will have a capacity of 2.6 million cubic meters and will have a 1.8-gigawatt-hour storage capacity, which can be delivered at a rate of 300 megawatts throughout a period of six hours.
The project is expected to play an essential role in balancing the grid and reducing Ireland’s fossil fuel dependency, allowing the integration of more variable renewable generation on the grid.
The investment by FEIP follows grant funding awarded to the Silvermines PSH project from the European Commission earlier this y