Company behind pumped storage hydro schemes calls for Scottish firms to benefit from national renewable projects.

Hamilton based ILI Group have called for a level playing field for Scottish firms on renewable energy projects in Scotland

Last month saw troubled Scottish fabrication firm BiFab effectively ‘locked out’ of the biding process for a £200 million offshore wind farm in Moray, unable to compete with foreign state-backed competitors from Spain, UAE and Belgium. The Scottish Government took a £25 million equity stake last year in Bifab as part of a rescue agreement.

Speaking on the eve of All-Energy Conference Mark Wilson, ILI Group CEO said “We have been in the renewable industry for the last 10 years and have seen time and time again, Scottish firms missing out on the construction investment.

"Scotland is uniquely placed to benefit from renewable energy, but Scottish firms have mostly missed out on the potential.

“We are taking forward 3 Pumped storage hydro sites in Scotland with total build cost of over £2 billion, creating thousands of jobs, we are determined to do everything in our power to make sure Scottish firms are in the best position possible to benefit from this investment.”

Mark Wilson is speaking at the All-Energy Conference on Wednesday(14th of May) addressing the "Case for Pumped Storage Hydro"

Pumped Storage Hydro allows the Grid to store energy that cannot be absorbed naturally by consumers during times of peak wind or solar generation. It does this by using this energy to pump water from a lower reservoir to a top reservoir. Here the water can be held until times of demand where it is released to the lower reservoir through turbines generating electricity like a conventional hydro plant, this process can be repeated as required.

Former UK Energy Minister Brian Wilson said "We were promised a second industrial revolution through renewable energy and none of that has happened because developers have been allowed to import virtually all of the hardware instead of investing in Scotland.

"Current pumped storage hydro proposals are on a scale which offer a real second chance for the Scottish manufacturing industry. Now is the time to identify where the capacity exists and to ensure that the progress of these projects through the consenting process is matched by assurances of using a domestic supply chain"

ILI Group have over 2GW of Pump-storage Hydro in the pipeline with their first 450MW development Red John in Inverness currently in planning, with 2 more projects to be submitted in the coming months