Allied Glass goes hydroelectric with Drax
A partnership has been established with Drax to provide Allied Glass with a greener energy solution, hydroelectricity. The glass container manufacturer will source 66 GWh of electricity annually from the power company’s river hydroelectric scheme in Scotland.
The use of hydroelectricity will make a significant difference in the journey to lessen the impact of operations and reduce carbon emissions towards the ambitious 2025 goals detailed within the Allied Glass sustainability report.
There is currently 1.2GW of hydropower capacity across the UK’s electricity system. Solar has 13.2GW capacity and wind has 24.4GW. So, for the 134 terawatt-hours (TWh) of renewable electricity produced in 2020 within the UK, only 5% of it came from hydro power, even though it is a highly efficient, flexible, affordable and low-carbon source of electricity.
One of the Drax hydro schemes is named ‘Lanark’, and their power stations generate electricity through what’s called ‘run-of-the-river’ hydropower, which describes a scheme where there is no dam to stop and store water along the river. The water is instead re-directed into a power station to spin a turbine which is connected to a generator. A second named ‘Galloway’ only generates power when there are peaks in demand. To do this it operates a conventional storage hydro scheme where dams situated along the river are used to create small reservoirs. When demand for electricity peaks, water is released from these reservoirs and used to spin turbines and generate electricity.
The stability of hydroelectricity’s source and ability to utilise natural river systems makes it the perfect solution to green energy production and Allied are delighted to bring its use into the manufacturing sector.
Image: A river based hydroelectric power system will provide Allied Glass with carbon free energy.
