Energy company Statera Energy heartened by level of support for planned Loch Kemp pumped storage hydro scheme near Loch Ness

The company behind a new pumped storage hydro scheme planned for the south side of Loch Ness says it is heartened by the level of support for the proposal.

UK-based Statera Energy hopes to develop the 300MW scheme using Loch Kemp on the Dell Estate as an upper reservoir and Loch Ness as the lower reservoir.

More than 50 people attended public exhibitions in Invermoriston, Fort Augustus and Whitebridge.

Andrew Troup, of Statera Energy, thanked people for attending and said there had been a positive response.

“We were pleased with the turnout, particularly at Whitebridge which is the closest community to the scheme,” he said.

“We were even more delighted at the level of support there was, which was really heartening.

“We had a lot of support for pumped storage hydro which many felt had a big contribution to make to tackling climate change but had been ignored for decades.”

The exhibition included a film showing what would happen when the level of the water was raised in Loch Kemp and how a relatively small number of dams could make that happen.

The developers are keen to emphasise the scheme will be relatively unobtrusive as it uses existing natural features in the landscape.

“There is relatively little construction on the dams because Loch Kemp already sits in a natural bowl and, as a consequence, the traffic movements will be lower than might be expected in a scheme of this size and over the next few months we will be working on a traffic management plan that clarifies what these figures might be,” Mr Troup said.

“Traffic was an issue of concern for some of those attending and it was useful to have the opportunity to explain that, wherever possible, spoil from the tunnel will be reused to build the dams which will reduce the traffic movements.

“We will also be looking at what we can do to minimise any disruption during the construction period.”

Work is now under way on an environmental impact assessment which will help shape the final planning application.

There will be another round of public exhibitions next year to allow people a final opportunity to make comments before the planning application is submitted.

The Loch Kemp Storage project would potentially save up to 500,000 tonnes of carbon emissions every year by displacing fossil fuel generation.

It comes on the heels of the £550 million Red John pumped storage hydro scheme near Dores which was given the go-ahead by the Scottish Government in June, despite strong objections from campaigners and Highland Council worried about the impact on the world-famous loch.

Plans revealed for pumped storage hydro scheme at Loch Ness