25 November 2015

Planning and Energy sector experts from Burges Salmon have advised Snowdonia Pumped Hydro on its application for a £160 million 99.9MW output pumped hydro-electric storage facility at Glyn Rhonwy near Llanberis in Snowdonia to the Planning Inspectorate.

The scheme involves re-using large abandoned slate quarries and is the first such pumped storage project for many years in England and Wales. It is the first application of its type as a Nationally Significant Infrastructure Project (NSIP), and will be decided by the Department for Energy and Climate Change (DECC) after a formal Examination. It will have an operational life of around 125 years.

Britain’s need for more grid-scale storage such as that planned at Glyn Rhonwy is now firmly on the UK government’s agenda. A dedicated team within DECC is examining how the build of more storage can be stimulated, and large scale storage is also key focus of the newly-announced National Infrastructure Commission under former Labour peer Lord Adonis.

Julian Boswall, planning partner at Burges Salmon, said: "We are delighted to have been able to assist SPH on this important application and to be taking it into the formal NSIP Examination going forward."

Dave Holmes, Managing Director of SPH, said: “We are grateful to Burges Salmon for their expert legal assistance on our first NSIP application for the first project in our development pipeline.”

Key contact

Ross Fairley

Ross Fairley Partner

  • Energy and Utilities
  • Head of Renewable Energy
  • Environment

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