Foresight Group’s flagship energy transition fund, Foresight Energy Infrastructure Partners, has made its first investment in pumped storage hydro (PSH) technology.
Located at the disused 1,547-acre Glenmuckloch opencast coal mine near Kirkconnel, Scotland, the project will involve the construction of a colocated 1,600 megawatt-hour capacity PSH plant and a 33.6-megawatt wind farm. The project could power more than 289,000 homes each year.
The site will store power during periods of excess energy supply and release stored energy at times of peak demand, enhancing the balancing of the U.K. power system amid growing energy security concerns. PSH builds grid resilience, replacing conventional low-efficiency thermal peaking plants, and facilitates the integration of intermittent renewable energy generation technologies, which in turn drives lower electricity prices.
There have only been five plants like this constructed in the United Kingdom to date.
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