A string of giant dams are to be built across Britain’s mountain landscapes after Ed Miliband offered developers billions of pounds in potential support for the projects.
In a bid to strengthen the country’s energy storage capabilities, the Energy Secretary has approved a scheme that will provide a financial safety net for dam developers.
The Telegraph says the proposal has been approved to encourage a spate of new dam projects across England and Scotland, which will be used to store back-up hydropower for times when wind and solar farms cannot meet electricity demand.
The eventual cost of supporting such projects will be added to consumer bills, with Mr Miliband introducing the backstop to help developers make a profit.
The technology behind the dams relies on pumped storage hydropower, which uses two reservoirs at different elevations.
Water is pumped into the upper lake when there is surplus cheap power and then released during shortages to spin turbines and generate electricity.
Such systems are highly controversial because while they can provide green energy, they also require altering entire landscapes, often in treasured rural or wild areas.
Energy Minister Michael Shanks said: “We need to increase our ability to store energy for when the sun isn’t shining, or the wind isn’t blowing.
“With these projects storing the surplus clean, homegrown energy produced from renewable sources, we can boost our energy security by relying less on fossil fuels, protect household bills, and help make Britain a clean energy superpower.”
The UK already has four pumped hydropower schemes – two in Scotland and two in Wales. The largest is at Dinorwig in Wales, opened in 1984 in Snowdonia National Park.
The power station was built inside Elidir Fawr mountain using a reservoir built 2,000 feet above sea level and linked to a second lake 1,700 feet lower down.
Mr Miliband and Mr Shanks want to unleash many other schemes over the next two decades, meaning many new dams will be built across mountainous regions in Britain.
Several hydro projects, targeting up to a dozen lochs, are already at the planning stage in Scotland.
A number of schemes are centred around Loch Ness, where critics say the projects will damage the local environment.
Brian Shaw, river director of the Ness District Salmon Fishery Board, told the Telegraph: “In places such as Loch Ness, this scale of pump storage hydro will overrun natural ecological processes, destroy the loch and surrounding ecosystems’ biodiversity, and devalue one of Scotland’s premier tourism destinations, all in the quest for not-so-cheap electricity.”