Former Australian Prime Minister and current president of the International Hydropower Association (IHA), Malcolm Turnbull, has issued an open letter to Rishi Sunak, urging for the swift implementation of the cap and floor mechanism for long-duration energy storage (LDES). In the letter, Turnbull highlights that the UK possesses nearly 7GW of shovel-ready pumped storage hydropower projects, boasting over 135GWh of storage capacity. These projects stand poised to significantly contribute to the UK's decarbonisation efforts while bolstering energy security.
Should these projects come to fruition, the UK's energy storage capacity would undergo a five-fold increase. Turnbull applauds the recent LDES government consultation, recognising it as a step forward in establishing a policy framework conducive to the rapid deployment of LDES technologies like pumped storage hydropower (PSH).