Energy from river weirs promises long-term revenue flow
New project in Derbyshire hopes to pave the way for widespread rollout of micro-hydro technologies
The UK is missing out on an affordable and plentiful source of renewable energy through its failure to deploy micro-hydro technologies capable of generating usable power from existing river weirs.
That is the view of Steve Welsh, managing director of Water Power Enterprises (h2oPE), a so-called community interest company that aims to install 5MW of renewable energy capacity from micro-hydro projects by 2015 and reinvest its profits in community-led environmental projects.
“The infrastructure to do this is already in place, as there are thousands of river weirs across the country that were built during the industrial revolution and are still in good nick,” explains managing director Steve Welsh. “As the infrastructure is already there the capital costs are manageable – the issue is picking the right sites, gaining planning permission, clearance from the Environment Agency and a lease from the landowner.”
These barriers mean that renewable energy companies have so far largely ignored micro-hydro technologies on the grounds that the relatively small amounts of power generated means it would take five to seven years to deliver a return on investment. But Welsh insists that micro hydro technologies, such as modern Archimedean screws, will generate energy for around 40 years providing h20pe with a long-term and predictable revenue stream.*
Full Article - Source : ©BusinessGreen
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