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Above: Ffestiniog pumped storage scheme was built in 1963. The International Hydropower Association’s new President Malcolm Turnbull says he is amplifying the call for pumped storage across the UK © David Pimborough /
Shutterstock.com
“We need to get these shovel-ready projects into construction right away and urge the Prime Minister and the UK Government to deliver an investment framework that will unlock the huge value of pumped storage hydro as soon as possible.” “We have a massive challenge ahead,” BHA’s Gilmore added. “The stakes are high but the benefits to the economy from decarbonising are immense. Hydropower technologies are the work horse of renewable energy, powering away decade after decade. We need the political will to drive forward the polices that can enable these technologies to deploy and play their important part in providing a decarbonised, stable, operable grid and lasting energy security.” If the UK has ambitions to become the “Saudi Arabia of wind-power”, Turnbull says that action is needed swiftly, and he is determined to amplify the call for pumped storage hydropower.
Water infrastructure Meeting net zero greenhouse gas emissions to
mitigate the effects of climate change, while keeping the taps on, improving the quality of waterways, and reducing flooding in the face of changing weather patterns, means that the UK’s water infrastructure system will face enormous challenges over the next 30 years and beyond. If unaddressed, the Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE) highlighted recently in a roundtable discussion, such problems will only become more severe due to pressures from population growth and climate change. Currently the UK uses about 14 billion litres of
water per day and will need 4 billion more by 2050. The UK government produced its Plan for Water in April 2023 to deliver clean and plentiful water and is built around a catchment approach to managing the water system, using regulatory powers and strategic policy approaches. While there has been progress in improving water quality, it is recognised that standards and performance must keep improving to anticipate and prepare for future challenges and so, ICE asked its members, is regulatory reform needed? The current model of water regulation was developed in the late 1980s and early 1990s and has yet to evolve at the pace required, while regulatory duties for water sit across multiple government departments and agencies. As attendees outlined at the roundtable, these duties must be better joined up to achieve the right outcomes.
14 | September 2023 |
www.waterpowermagazine.com
The water sector of the past was characterised as being ‘low risk, low return’, with minimal innovation, little capital investment but, overall, in a stable state. This has since changed: a new message is needed to attract equity as this is not what the water industry of the future will look like. But the good news is that there is unlikely to be a shortage of finance – investors still see water as a safe bet, and water companies have done a strong job of attracting finance in the past. Discussions at the ICE roundtable focused on
complacency among water companies, particularly when understanding the current health of their asset base and how it will respond to shocks. Investment is required to understand the existing asset base and prioritise where interventions need to be made. Longer term planning is also required. Five-year
price review periods have inhibited such a necessary long-term approach to water infrastructure system management and the impact of this can be found in water supplies. The UK’s population has grown by approximately 10 million people since the last reservoir was completed in 1991 and although it was described as an impressive feat that supply has been well maintained in that time, new reservoirs are now badly needed. The National Infrastructure Commission has advised that 16 reservoirs will be required over the next 25 years to secure the UK’s drought resilience. Leadership in the water sector is also considered
to be lacking; there is no entity to drive change and actively monitor progress, while the supply chain for delivering transformative solutions like sustainable drainage systems at scale is simply not there. The sector overall is disparate: there is unity of purpose, but no unity of direction and the question was asked if a water strategy could provide the solution. Attendees also raised the need to promote greater public awareness of the water stresses the country will face as climate change and population growth pressures mean the public must reduce their water use by 30%.
Significant changes The British Dam Society also acknowledged recently
that the country’s reservoir industry is currently going through significant changes with a call for increased resilience within water supplies and greater demand for renewable energy. With at least ten reservoirs or water storage projects under investigation or underway, including the first large scale pumped storage project for 30 years at
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