Hydroelectricity in the United Kingdom



, hydroelectric power stations in the United Kingdom accounted for 1.87GW of installed electrical generating capacity, being 2.2% of the UK's total generating capacity and 4.2% of UK's renewable energy generating capacity. This includes four conventional hydroelectric power stations and run-of-river schemes for which annual electricity production is approximately 5,000GWh, being about 1.3% of the UK's total electricity production. There are also four pumped-storage hydroelectric power stations providing a further 2.8GW of installed electrical generating capacity, and contributing up to 4,075GWh of peak demand electricity annually.

The potential for further practical and viable hydroelectricity power stations in the UK is estimated to be in the region of 146 to 248MW for England and Wales, and up to 2,593MW for Scotland.

Interest in hydropower in the UK rose in the early 2010s due to UK and EU targets for reductions in carbon emissions and the promotion of renewable energy power generation through commercial incentives such as the Renewable Obligation Certificate scheme (ROCs) and feed-in tariffs (FITs). Before such schemes, studies to assess the available hydro resources in the UK had discounted many sites for reasons of poor economic or technological viability, but studies in 2008 and 2010 by the British Hydro Association (BHA) identified a larger number of viable sites, due to improvements in the available technology and the economics of ROCs and FITSs. However, during the same period there have been significant reductions in costs of other renewable energy sources such as Offshore Wind and Photovoltaics, this has resulted in reduced competitiveness of large scale Hydroelectric schemes in the UK. There are no large scale Hydroelectric scheme planned in the UK as of 2020. However, it is predicted that pumped storage will play an increasingly important role in the UK electricity grid in future years as more intermittent sources of electricity generation come on line.

Schemes up to 50kW are eligible for FITs, and schemes over 5MW are eligible for ROCs. Schemes between 50kW and 5MW can choose between either. The UK Government's National Renewable Energy Action Plan of July 2010 envisaged between 40 and 50MW of new hydropower schemes being installed annually up to 2020. The most recent feedback for new hydro schemes is for 2009, and only about 15MW of new hydropower was installed during that year.