|
PRESS RELEASE 9 March 2010 SAVING FOR A RAINY DAY Micro hydro electricity plants are giving social and green investors the chance to support climate change solutions and save for the future, as H2oPE launch two new community share offers. Following the success of the UK’s first community-funded hydro schemes, Yorkshire-based H2oPE is launching share offers for River Bain Hydro in North Yorkshire and Stockport Hydro in Greater Manchester. With a 45kW installed capacity, River Bain Hydro will generate approximately 185,000kWh per year, enough to power 40 houses, saving 80 tonnes of CO2 per year, 3000 tonnes over an expected lifetime of 40 years. Stockport Hydro has been created to develop a number of hydro electric schemes, following an initial feasibility study funded by Stockport Metropolitan Borough Council. Sites identified for 2010/11 development initially, are at Otterspool and Stringers weir. Otterspool is similar in size to the River Bain Hydro project, and Stringer almost half as big again.
H2oPE’s MD, Steve Welsh said:
“Supported by the Co-op, Rowntree and other ethical investors, we have developed a working business model that can deliver renewable energy, engage local communities and provide investors with an ethical, long term opportunity that does nothing less than help save the planet. Each scheme will be owned by the community and the surplus profits will be fed back into the community to fund more environmental schemes. Also, it means that local people own an electricity generating plant – a fact that is likely to become increasingly important in the decades to come as the phenomena of ‘peak oil’ and climate change begins to really grip.” The co-operative solution to climate change is a ‘bottom up’ approach which builds upon government initiatives but which ensures that the real beneficiaries are communities. The recent introduction of increased Feed In Tariffs benefits micro hydro schemes, increasing potential income by up to 30% at Bainbridge and Stockport and is index-linked for the next 20 years. The hydro schemes will work on a one-member-one-vote principle regardless of the amount of shares owned. Shares will be priced £1 with a minimum shareholding of 250 shares. Any surplus profits will be given as grants to local environmental and educational projects. For more information see our Current Projects.To pre-register your interest for our share offers and download a prospectus please use our Contact Us. Press contact: Clare Walker on
This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
or 01609 883011/ 07595873221 Note to Editors: H2oPE is a Community Interest Company - a social enterprise - limited by shares. It was founded in February 07 by Steve Welsh, MD and Helen Walker, Operations Director. As a social enterprise, H2oPE’s aim is to set up small-scale hydropower projects that benefit both the environment and local communities. H2oPE is supported by the Co-operative Group, the Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust and Key Fund Yorkshire. H2oPE are joint winners, with the Co-operative Group, of the Renewables Innovation Award at the NEMEX Environment and Energy Awards 2009.
Why hydro? It’s a vastly underused resource. Hydro already produces 17% of the world’s electricity. It produces 40% of the UK’s total renewable electricity production. We want to develop the thousands of river weirs which once powered the industrial revolution. We can re-use them to produce green electricity at no cost to the planet. Once installed, hydro turbines can run for between 50 and 100 years using a natural and free source of power – running water! Hydro is one solution among many to fighting climate change. Check out our web site and see how we’re trying to do our bit for the planet. What’s the community got to do with it? Just about everything! Most river weirs are near a local community. Our role is to work with that community to enable them to co-own a share in the net revenues from the sale of the hydroelectricity. We use a legal structure called an ‘Industrial and Provident Society for the benefit of the community’ – an IPS. The IPS raises money from local people (and beyond) to buy a share in the project. The more they raise, the bigger their share. We supply the rest of the money through a mixture of grants and social investors. Once the hydro site starts selling its electricity, the IPS receives its share of the net revenue which is then used as grants to support the development of that community. We’re a social enterprise - a community interest company. We set up in February 07 with a mission of setting up small-scale hydro plants and reducing carbon emissions. Our aim is to reduce 6,500 tonnes of carbon emissions each year by 2015, though installing 5MW of small-scale reverse Archimedean screw hydroelectric schemes. We’re proud to be tackling climate change and engaging with and supporting local communities. And we’re here for the long term. We encourage and support communities to take a share in what we’re doing. We’re social developers – not private developers - and proud of it. We’ll bring social investment to a community, co-share its natural resource of water, and help that community to get a share in an income stream that will last for decades. Who invests in us? There’s a new and growing sector of private and corporate investors called ‘Social Investors’. They have a conscience. They invest for ethical purposes and are willing to accept a lower financial return in exchange for their part in helping to tackle climate change by reducing carbon emissions. We find viable river weirs. We engage the local community. We get planning permission, the agreement of the Environment Agency, a lease from the landowner. We get the finance and help the local community organise itself into an Industrial and Provident Society. We organise the construction and maintenance of the sites. We major in the use of the Archimedean Screw. It’s been used for thousands of years to pump water uphill and into fields for irrigation. Ritz Atro, a German company, has been been making Archimedean Screws for use as pumps for over 40 years. Some years ago, however, it started to use the screw in reverse, allowing water to flow down it. The weight of the water turns the screw which generates electricity. It works in exactly the same way as a bicycle dynamo, except that instead of a wheel turning the dynamo, it’s the Archimedean screw. Instead of a cyclist using pedals to turn the wheel, it’s the weight of the river water. Simple. No water under pressure like traditional turbines. Also, the Archimedean screw is fish friendly. Fish can travel through it without harm, avoiding expensive screening which has to be regularly cleaned. The Archimedean Screw is particularly efficient at low water flows and is ideal for small heads of water created by river weirs. |
