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.

First, we are delighted to be building the first long-duration energy storage in Britain in 40 years, including pumped hydro storage projects that will help us store renewable energy for when we need it. Secondly, there will be local benefits from that and I do not agree with the hon. Gentleman’s point about jobs. These are big construction projects and there will be jobs relating to running them afterwards. However, I will look further at his point on community benefits, because the community should benefit from such projects being built.

Will the Minister acknowledge that the highlands and islands produce a disproportionately large amount of our renewable energy? Will he also acknowledge that last week’s Ofgem go-ahead for three pumped storage schemes will produce almost no jobs, no legacy housing and no community benefits, along with minimal, if any, advantage to the highlands of Scotland?

The Energy Independence Bill will legislate for the powers the government needs to fight people’s corner and go further and faster on our clean energy mission. The full detail of the Energy Independence Bill and its policy measures will be set out in due course when it is introduced to Parliament.

There is already 2.8GW of pumped storage hydropower (PSH) on the GB electricity system, which is a form of Long Duration Electricity Storage (LDES). The government agrees that GB needs more LDES, which is why the Clean Power 2030 Action Plan envisages an expansion of capacity of 1.2 to 3.2 GW by 2030 compared to today’s level and also why the National Electricity System Operator (NESO) has published advice that 2.7 to 7.7 GW more LDES is required by 2035 compared to today’s level. In October 2024, this government brought in the LDES cap and floor investment support scheme to deliver new LDES capacity. The scheme is being delivered by Ofgem and is technology neutral (and so could support a number of LDES technologies, including those referenced in the questions). Ofgem plans to consult this spring on the LDES projects it is minded to grant a cap and floor scheme to from its first LDES allocation round.

Any building or structure in the floodplain must ensure that it is resilient to flooding and that it does not increase flood risk for anybody else in the floodplain. Hydroelectric power is governed by a strict regulatory framework managed primarily by the Environment Agency (EA) that ensures that hydroelectric installations are safe and that they do not increase flood risk. The core requirements for any new hydropower installation are:

• Environmental Permits: You must apply for an environmental permit for flood risk activities to build structures in, over, or near a main river.
• Impounding Licences: building or modifying a dam or weir to hold back water requires an impounding licence to ensure that the structure does not negatively impact water levels or downstream safety. While the other two requirements apply to all infrastructure near a river that can impact flood risk, this is specific to hydropower installations.
• Mandatory Flood Risk Assessments (FRA): Planning applications for hydropower schemes must include a site-specific Flood Risk Assessment which demonstrate that the installation doesn’t increase flood risk elsewhere and that it is resilient to climate change, using specific climate change allowances for peak river flows.

The EA uses flood modelling to understand the risk of flooding at a local and a national level. Its flood models use a range of information to help make them as reliable as possible, including information about the different types of land use and structures which could influence the way water flows.

In line with Government planning policy, the EA provides advice on planning submissions for new hydroelectric installations, considering impacts on water flow, flood risk and ecological balance. This ensures that planning proposals do not result in unacceptable flood risk or environmental harm.

Officials continue to engage with the British Hydropower Association regarding the future role of the UK’s remaining small-scale hydropower resource, estimated to be a maximum technical potential of around 1.5GW, in supporting the UK energy system. This includes consideration of opportunities in regions such as the North West.

Furthermore, the Smart Export Guarantee, which came into force on 1 January 2020, requires major electricity suppliers to offer a tariff for electricity exported by small low-carbon generators, including small-scale hydro.

The Clean Power 2030 Action Plan sets an ambition of 4-6GW of long duration electricity storage (LDES) capacity, which includes pumped storage hydropower (PSH), by 2030. This is being enabled through an LDES cap and floor investment support scheme, which government announced in October 2024 and is being delivered by Ofgem. It is open to projects from all parts of Great Britain.

The British Hydro Association maintains a list of PSH projects under development in Great Britain at the following link: https://british-hydro.org/pumped-storage-hydropower/.

Power capacity statistics for energy storage capacity in the UK can be found in the annually published Digest of UK Energy Statistics (DUKES), in particular Table 5.16.[1] The government’s Clean Power Action Plan[2] sets out ranges for the energy storage capacity we could need by 2030, as informed by advice from the National Energy System Operator (NESO). While there are no fixed targets set for 2035, NESO regularly publishes Future Energy Scenarios which set out pathways to Net Zero in 2050 and include energy storage capacity

[1] https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/electricity-chapter-5-digest-of-united-kingdom-energy-statistics-dukes

[2] https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/clean-power-2030-action-plan

The Government makes full use of the comprehensive and wide ranging environmental regulatory framework in England. Defra and the Environment Agency have contributed to HMT’s Regulatory Action Plan and other recent reviews into regulatory effectiveness, including the review led by Dan Corry.

We remain committed to upholding high environmental standards to protect our natural environment and local communities when supporting new infrastructure and development, including community hydroelectric schemes.

Electricity generation capacity for hydroelectric power plants is published in Energy Trends table 6.1, available on gov.uk.

At the end of 2024 the installed capacity for hydroelectric power plants was: (1) England 43 MW, (2) Scotland 1,668 MW and (3) Wales 168 MW.

Determining abstraction and impoundment licences for hydropower projects is a complex activity due to the wide-ranging risks to the environment and water users.

The Environment Agency has implemented several steps to streamline and improve its permitting process through a wide-ranging transformation programme across all its work areas from application acceptance through to assessment. These benefit hydropower projects and create efficiencies for the benefit of all applicants.

Specifically for water resources and hydropower, a new validation process has been introduced to quickly assess if an application is technically valid once received. The aim is for the initial assessments to be completed within 4 weeks and applicants are told if more information is required. New efficient assessment processes for staff, significantly reducing the time taken to assess applications, are being continually introduced.

Delays to the process are often caused by incorrect payments and applications with missing information. Applicants are urged to make use of the enhanced pre-application service which reduces the risk of delays and support applicants to apply for the right type of licences with the correct supporting information.

Determining abstraction licences for hydropower projects is a complex activity due to the risks to the environment and water users.

Hydropower application charges are based on a scheme’s output power and its risk rating. Annual subsistence charges cover costs to protect the environment and the rights of licence holders. There is no annual fee for hydropower licences for electricity production of up to 5 megawatts.

The Environment Agency (EA) does not receive any government funding to subsidise application or annual charges. The EA charging scheme sets out the charges for hydropower schemes.

Details of Ministers' and Permanent Secretaries' meetings with external individuals and organisations are published quarterly in arrears on GOV.UK.

The Clean Power 2030 Action Plan provides a ‘Clean Power Capacity Range’ as a foundation to guide rapid policy development and focus delivery, based on scenarios that meet our Clean Power ambitions. There is a breakdown of capacity ranges for the different technology sectors necessary for clean power in 2030, including long duration electricity storage (LDES) - which includes pumped storage hydro (PSH) - and solar. The scenarios developed cannot be exhaustive or definitive, so it is right that government retains some optionality.

The Smart Export Guarantee came into force on 1 January 2020 and requires major electricity suppliers to offer a tariff to buy electricity exported by small low-carbon generators, including small hydro.