A Changing Landscape for Loch Ness
Brian Shaw stood at the water’s edge, eyeing the exposed pebbles and damp sand lining the shore. It looked as though the tide had pulled back. But tides don’t exist in Loch Ness.
Overnight, Foyers, a small pumped-storage power station, had drawn millions of liters of water into its upper reservoir, lowering the loch’s surface by 14 centimeters. Shaw, who runs the Ness District Salmon Fishery Board, has seen this before. But with new hydro storage proposals looming, he worries the impact could be far greater.
Race to Store Renewable Energy
Energy firms are scrambling to tackle a critical challenge: storing surplus electricity from wind farms. The UK government has set a target of up to 8GW of long-duration energy storage by 2030, and pumped hydro is a key contender.
Developers are pushing plans for 11 projects, with a combined capacity of 10GW—equivalent to 10 nuclear power stations. Most are proposed in the Scottish Highlands, with Loch Ness identified as a prime location.
Three major schemes are lined up for the loch, including Glen Earrach, a massive £3bn facility capable of delivering 2GW of power. It would be one of the most powerful in the UK, capitalizing on its high-altitude reservoir for greater efficiency.
Local Concerns Grow Over Water Levels
The potential impact on Loch Ness is fueling unease among conservationists, businesses, and local residents. If all three plants were approved and operated together, the loch’s water level could drop by over a meter at peak times.
- Salmon populations: Juvenile salmon, highly sensitive to temperature and water level changes, could be at risk.
- Tourism: Leisure cruising firms fear fluctuating water levels could make navigation unpredictable.
- Archaeology: Ancient sites, including a prehistoric crannog, may be exposed or damaged.
The invertebrate charity Buglife has also raised alarms. It warns that Glen Earrach’s operations alone could drop the loch’s surface by nearly half a meter, posing a threat to rare insects such as the northern damselfly and brilliant emerald dragonfly.
Competition and Regulatory Hurdles
The Glen Earrach project is now in a high-stakes contest for regulatory approval. Ofgem, the UK’s energy regulator, will begin evaluating applications this spring, determining which projects will receive the crucial supply agreements needed to secure funding.
Meanwhile, Glen Earrach Energy has been lobbying policymakers, promising an extensive environmental impact assessment to address concerns. The company is also working with Shaw’s fisheries board to examine risks to the loch’s salmon populations.
Roderick MacLeod, whose family owns the land where Glen Earrach would be built, insists the loch will naturally replenish from surrounding rivers, limiting long-term impact. But Shaw remains cautious, pointing to existing legal restrictions that prevent firms from drawing water when levels are too low.
A Costly Community Benefit
To sweeten the deal, Glen Earrach Energy is offering an unprecedented community benefit package: up to £25m a year for local projects. MacLeod argues that such compensation is only fair.
“The landscape is kind of everybody’s,” he said. “If we’re using the water, the community should see a return.”
For now, the fate of the Loch Ness hydro projects hangs in the balance, with both economic and environmental stakes running high.
