The Press and Journal (Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire)
Drax looks to move mountains with £500m application
Renewable energy provider Drax says it could provide a raft of accommodation which has social housing potential for the area around Ben Cruachan near Loch Awe should it secure planning consent from Holyrood for its £500m “Hollow Mountain” expansion plans.
The power giant submitted its application yesterday for consent, which also requires UK Government market support, to build a new underground pumped storage hydro power station which would more than double electricitygenerating capacity at the Cruachan facility to around one gigawatt (GW).
To put that into perspective as everyone in the UK returns home from work this evening and fires up ovens and hot water, gigawatt demand will peak at 35GW with the number soaring to 55GW in winter showing the urgent need for energy independent from external political forces.
Work to build the new pumped storage hydro power station could start in 2024 with power to the grid being supplied in 2030. A decision on the application is expected “by this summer.”
The development – providing a serious boost to the Argyll economy – would be the first newly-built plant of its kind in the UK in more than 40 years and will provide storage capacity in a bid to reduce energy imports at a time when the issue has shot centre stage with war in Ukraine sending prices rocketing.
Given the highly-automated nature of modern power plants, it is unlikely large numbers of permanent new jobs will be created, but the massive infrastructure project’s need for more than 1,000 staff during six years of construction will trigger huge housing demand in a remote area where this is not readily available.
Workers across the supply chain in a range of industries from quarrying and engineering to transport and hospitality will need to be housed and Drax is proposing its own self-funded solution.
“We are working with a landowner about securing a compound for some of the workers,” Drax Scottish assets director Ian Kinnaird told the Press and Journal. “But housing in the area is very much at a premium so part of what we are looking to do is potentially construct additional housing.
“That could well become social housing for the local community and the council to use as they see fit. We would fund that as part of the project.
“There is just not enough capacity in the local area hence why we are looking at alternatives. This is unique because of the remoteness.”
The plant will be housed within a new, hollowed-out cavern which would be large enough to fit Big Ben on its side, while more than two million tons of rock will need to be excavated to create the cavern, tunnels and other parts of the power station.
One idea being mooted is to transport the colossal amount of rock to quarries which provide rubble and cement for wind farms with Drax insisting it has the local community on its side.
“We have had three public consultations with the local community with 99% very positive” added Mr Kinnaird. “It has an association with the existing Cruachan plant.
“There are issues we need to very sensitively manage – road impact and getting the rock out – (but) the community sees the investment we are bringing to the economy.”