This column appears as part of the Winds of Change newsletter.

Three weeks ago, provisional approval was given to three hydropower projects, at Loch Earba, Coire Glas and Loch Kemp. These were the first in Britain for 40 years, and welcomed by many.

All were pumped storage hydro, and all in Scotland. This makes sense. Scotland has lochs and a renewables-centred grid that requires long-term storage to make it work. And let’s not forget that all this is part of the long-term goal of reducing emissions and combating climate change.

Pumped-storage hydropower projects are giant water-based batteries, using two reservoirs at different elevations, pumping water uphill when demand is low, then letting it flow downhill through turbines when demand is high.

Though we need more of such long duration energy storage (LDES) to store excess energy when the wind blows and release when it does not, not everyone is behind the approved plans.

Though we need more long-duration energy storage (LDES), not everyone is behind the approved plans. Campaigners have identified the Lochan na h-Earba project, which would connect the loch via pipes in a 3km tunnel to Loch Leamhain, as particularly damaging to the landscape and ecology.

If built, the Earba scheme is expected to be the UK’s largest pumped-storage hydropower scheme and store 40,000MWh of energy.

Among its critics is environmental campaigner and former senior officer with Ramblers Scotland and the Nature Conservancy Council, Dave Morris, who describes it as a 'scandal' and 'disaster'. Hewrites, “The decision by the energy regulator Ofgem to grant provisional approval for three new pump storage hydro schemes, all in the Scottish Highlands, raises serious questions about responsibility for protecting our natural environment."

The "worst by far" he says, is Lochan na h-Earba. He also quotes Kate Gilmartin of the trade body British Hydropower Association,........

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