Hollow Mountain power station’s £80m upgrade
Renewable energy leader Drax is to invest £80 million in a major refurbishment of its iconic “Hollow Mountain” Cruachan pumped storage hydro power station on Loch Awe, increasing its capacity and supporting UK energy security. Drax has appointed global hydropower technology supplier ANDRITZ as the main contractor for the Cruachan upgrade project.
ANDRITZ Hydro is one of the world’s leading suppliers of electromechanical equipment and services for hydropower stations and has installed around 470 gigawatts of capacity during its more than 180 years of operations.
The £80 million project will see the generating capacity of two of the plant’s four units increased by a combined 40MWs to raise the facility’s total generating capacity to 480MWs.
The units were commissioned in 1965 and contain parts, including their turbines, which are now more than 50 years old.
Drax’s Cruachan Power Station is one of just four pumped storage hydro facilities in the UK, playing a critical role in the country’s energy security.
Speaking in Ravensburg, Germany, at the signing of the contract with ANDRITZ, Drax’s interim chief operating officer Penny Small said: “Pumped storage hydro is vital to the UK’s energy security, it’s a technology which works in partnership with renewables.
“These plants play a critical role in stabilising the electricity system, helping to balance supply and demand through storing excess power. When wind turbines are generating more power than we need, Cruachan steps in to store the renewable electricity so it doesn’t go to waste.”
The major upgrade to the two units will improve their operability and reliability, lengthening their lifespan.
Drax’s investment is underpinned by the award of 15-year capacity market agreement worth around £221 million.
Pumped storage plants act like giant water batteries by using reversible turbines to pump water from a lower reservoir to an upper reservoir which stores excess power from sources such as wind farms when supply outstrips demand. These same turbines are then reversed to bring the stored water back through the plant to generate power when the country needs it.
The Cruachan upgrade project is separate to Drax’s plan to build a new 600MW pumped storage power station adjacent to the existing Cruachan facility.