A new £13.6 million hydropower scheme has been commissioned at Loch Eilde Mor in the Highlands, Scotland.
Developed by Ancala Partners, through its portfolio company Green Highland Renewables (GHR), the 2MW scheme is situated at Kinlochleven. It is a high head run-of-river scheme featuring a triple-jet Pelton turbine.
In a statement, Ancala said that it believes the UK hydro sector offers the potential to deliver attractive, low-volatility returns. It invested in GHR as a platform to execute a consolidation and development strategy within the sector and has since been proactively implementing this approach. Since Ancala invested in GHR in April 2015, the company has experienced significant growth, which has included the development of nine hydro schemes and the acquisition of a further two hydro sites. The Kinlochleven project has the highest energy generation of all GHR projects to date and gives GHR storage capacity due to the loch-fed nature of the project.
Earlier this year, Ancala announced that it had raised £51 million of debt facilities for Green Highland Hydro, the asset ownership vehicle for hydropower assets developed by GHR. The facility has been used to support construction of the schemes and refinance capital invested in operational assets.
