Written question asked by Lord Wigley (Plaid Cymru) on Wednesday, 8 July 2026, in the House of Lords. It was due for an answer on Wednesday, 22 July 2026. It was answered by Lord Whitehead (Labour) on Tuesday, 21 July 2026 on behalf of the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero.
Hydroelectric Power
- Question
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To ask His Majesty's Government how many new pumped storage hydro electricity generation plants have been authorised in (1) England, (2) Scotland, and (3) Wales, since 5 July 2024.
- Answer
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Planning consent is a matter for the relevant planning authority, which varies by country. The UK Government would only be responsible for consenting pumped storage hydro (PSH) projects in England above 50MW. In practice, these do not exist given more suitable topography in other parts of Britain.
On 26 June 2026, Ofgem published its "minded-to" decisions on projects to be supported under the Long Duration Electricity Storage (LDES) cap and floor investment support scheme. This includes three PSH projects, all located in Scotland: Loch Kemp, Coire Glas and Earba. The latter two projects already have planning consent. No PSH projects in England applied to the scheme, and none in Wales passed an earlier eligibility assessment. Ofgem is now consulting on these decisions before confirming final awards in autumn 2026.
Secondary information
- Type
- Written question
- Reference
- HL1868
- Session
- 2026-27
- Subjects
- Storage Hydroelectric power
- Contains statistics
- Yes
- Link
- View this Written question on www.parliament.uk
Librarians' tools
- Timestamp
- 2026-07-21 11:12:27 +0100
- URI
- http://data.parliament.uk/writtenparliamentaryquestion/lords/2026-27/HL1868
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