A proposed £160 million pumped-storage facility in North Wales — to be built by Snowdonia Pumped Hydro (SPH) — has been given the go-ahead by the Government.

The facility, at the Glyn Rhonwy and Chwarel Fawr quarries in Snowdonia, will have a capacity of 99.9MW. It will comprise two reservoirs linked by a 1.6km underground pipeline via a turbine hall below ground level.

The development is expected to have an operational life of about 125 years and to support up to 30 full-time local jobs (as well as hundreds of jobs during construction).

As it exceeds the 50MW threshold in the Planning Act 2008, the scheme is classified as a Nationally Significant Infrastructure Project, requiring the grant of a Development Consent Order from Business Secretary Greg Clark.

Ben Lewis, a director of the GVA property agency that advised SPH on the planning, said: “The need for grid-scale storage is now firmly on the Government’s agenda.

As the UK moves towards an increased proportion of its electricity being generated from renewable sources, there is an increasing requirement for grid-scale ‘batteries’ to balance supply and demand across the grid.

“Pumped storage is one of the most efficient types of battery. We are delighted to be involved in such an exciting project.”