Battle lines being prepared over £1b hydro dam project on Ardverikie Estate
Battle lines are being drawn as plans for the UK's largest pumped storage hydro project have been unveiled for Badenoch.
Costing 'not far south of a billion pounds', the Earba Project on Ardverikie Estate by Laggan envisages a closed, long duration electricity scheme of up to 900MW capacity.
The company designing it, Gilkes Energy Ltd, see it as a major contribution to the fight against the climate emergency.
However, conservationists including Newtonmore-based author and broadcaster Cameron McNeish are decrying it as a 'horrendous plan for a beautiful area, requiring a huge public outcry to stop it in its tracks'.
The proposed site would affect Lochan na h’Earba, to the south of Loch Laggan, and Loch a’Bhealaich Leamhain, a smaller loch to the south of Lochan na h’Earba.
The scheme relies on storing water in a lower and upper reservoir and moving water between them.
The level of water in Lochan na h’Earba would be raised some 20 metres by constructing two new dams, with Loch a’ Bhealaich Leamhain increased by up to 65 metres through the construction of a dam at its eastern end.
The company behind the plans believe that it will be a huge win for the strath.
Chris Pasteur, GEL's consenting manager, told the Strathy that if the scheme got the go-ahead there would be 'any number of jobs' during its construction and the possibility of between 10 and 20 full-time posts for running and maintaining the system once it was finished.
He said: "Following our submission of a scoping report to the Scottish Government's Energy Consents Unit on January 31 we received a response on April 27.
"The scoping opinion provides feedback on our proposals for carrying out the environmental impact assessment which will be required to accompany the planning application that we propose to submit later this year, hopefully towards the end of October, beginning of November.
"It includes input from many of the statutory and other consultees, including the John Muir Trust, which will allow us to firm up the surveys and methodologies to be used in the EIA.
"Some ecological and other survey works have been ongoing over the winter and spring, but there will now be a step up in this work following receipt of the scoping opinion, the onset of better weather – we hope – and the start of the field season for some of the ecology surveys."
In February, GEL held drop-in sessions for the public including one at Laggan, which attracted 18 people.
Mr Pasteur said: "Feedback was generally positive and recognising the need for this type of facility to counter climate change."
• The proposals are currently at scoping stage and the documents are available on the Energy Consents Unit website (ECU ref. ECU00004731) or the Highland Council’s planning portal (ref. 23/00810/SCOP).
