Foresight Group has made what it describes as a “significant investment” in Gilkes Energy’s Earba pumped-storage hydro project.

Earba is a 1.8GW long-duration energy-storage project in the Scottish Highlands. The investment was made through Foresight Energy Infrastructure Partners II.

According to the companies, the funding will provide the capital and long-term support needed to advance the project towards construction. It will support detailed engineering, procurement, site investigations and other preparatory work.

Earba will have an energy-storage capacity of 40GWh, allowing it to export electricity at full power for approximately 22 hours. Gilkes Energy describes it as the largest pumped-storage hydro project approved in the UK.

The facility will use water held in Loch Earba and an upper reservoir at Loch Leamhain, with the two connected by approximately three kilometres of tunnels.

Foresight said the investment strengthens Earba’s position as one of the UK’s leading long-duration storage projects and supports the delivery of infrastructure needed for a renewables-led electricity system.