HC Deb 08 July 1958 vol 591 cc182-3
22. Mr. Nabarro

asked the Secretary of State for Scotland what pumped storage schemes have now been prospected by the North of Scotland Hydro-Electric Board; the aggregate of kilowatts installed for such prospective schemes; and the estimated average cost £/KWI.

The Joint Under-Secretary of State for Scotland (Mr. Niall Macpherson)

The Cruachan section of the Loch Awe scheme, which my right hon. Friend is now considering, provides for pumped storage plant and has an installed capacity of 400,000 kilowatts at an estimated cost of £37 per kilowatt. The Board has also prospected at Balmaha and Loch Sloy and it estimates that at these sites it might be possible to develop pumped storage schemes with a further installed capacity of up to 1,600,000 kilowatts at about the same cost.

Mr. Nabarro

As the aggregate of the power resources by pumped storage, to which my hon. Friend refers, is about fifteen times as great as the Strathfarrar and Kilmorack hydro-electric schemes, and pumped storage arrangements represent only one-quarter of the capital cost of orthodox hydro-electric projects, is not it desirable in the national interest to defer the Strathfarrar and Kilmorack proposals and proceed at once with the much cheaper and more economical pumped storage arrangements working in parallel with the nuclear power generation facilities from the South of Scotland?

Mr. Macpherson

My hon. Friend's assumption that the cost would be only one-quarter is by no means substantiated by the facts. In the hydro-electric schemes it is possible to choose the load factor which is required and to design to it. For a pumped storage scheme, on the other hand, as I explained to my hon. Friend last week, first, one has to have the supplies available from the base load of a station operating at a high load factor. Secondly, one needs an adequate peak demand for the power from the pumped storage station. What the North of Scotland needs at present is supplies of electricity not for peak loads but for intermediate loads, and my right hon. Friend is quite satisfied that the cost would be less at Strathfarrar than at any other available centre.