Written question WQ87300

Wales’ pumped hydropower storage currently provides 2 gigawatts (GW) of the UK’s existing 2.8 GW of pumped hydropower storage. Wales hosts two fully operational facilities at Dinorwig and Ffestiniog with another, at Glyn Rhonwy, in the pipeline.

We are assessing the role of pumped hydropower storage as part of our wider assessment of the energy system. We are gathering insights through our Future Energy Grids for Wales project which we will publish later this year.

Large scale hydropower projects are very costly to deliver and can have a significant environmental impact. The UK Government does not currently have any available financial mechanism to incentivise these developments in the same way they do for other renewable energy technologies, which limits the financial viability of bringing new developments to deployment.

Any developments would also need to consider the needs of local communities and other users of the water and surrounding environment. There may be opportunities for smaller scale developments delivering multiple services to local communities and wider society.