Albion Community Power has committed £4.8m to the development of two run-of-river hydropower schemes in the Scottish Highlands.
The company secured investment from the UK Green Investment Bank, Strathclyde Pension Fund and Greater Manchester Pension Fund
The two 500kW schemes are at Liatre Burn on the Glen Cannich estate and Abhainn Bruachaig, near Kinlochewe and will generate approximately 2.8GWh of renewable electricity a year.
Construction of both projects is already underway with completion and commissioning expected before the end of the year.
The projects are the third and fourth community-scale Scottish hydro projects that ACP is developing. Construction of the first two schemes – Chaorach, near Crianlarich, and River Arkaig, in Lochaber – is in advanced stages and both are expected to be fully commissioned by the end of the third quarter.
Albion Community Power chair Volker Beckers said: “Institutional demand for community-scale renewable energy continues to grow and ACP is well placed to benefit from this trend.
“We look forward to working on both schemes, as well as developing a further pipeline of projects.”
UK GIB head of investment banking Edward Northam said: “Community-scale projects improve the efficiency of the network by generating electricity close to where customers need it.
“We believe that decentralised schemes like Liatre Burn and Bruachaig are an important part of the energy mix and have a significant role to play in increasing security of supply, reducing costs and cutting greenhouse gas emissions.”
Image: Inverlael hydro (RWE)
