Canals and rivers to lead micro-hydropower revolutionBritish Waterways announces plans to build 25 small-scale schemes which could power 40,000 homes
Adam Vaughan
guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 11 March 2009 15.33 GMT
Britain's canals and rivers have already been heralded as a low-carbon way to tranport Tesco groceries, a test-bed for hydrogen boats and a opportunity to build more wind turbines. Now they're being billed as a chance for micro hydropower to flourish under new plans unveiled today by British Waterways, which maintains 2,200 miles of the country's canals and rivers.
In partnership with The Small Hydro Company, British Waterways said it intended to build 25 small-scale hydro-electric schemes with a capacity of 40MW, enough to power 40,000 homes. While far smaller in capacity than offshore wind farms switched on in 2008, the hydro initiative hopes to raise £120m in private capital over the next three years, create 150 construction jobs and reduce CO2 emissions by 110,000 tonnes annually.
Underwater turbines will be installed next to existing weirs and will not affect the navigation of canals and rivers. Larger waterways such as the Trent and Severn rivers will be used for the first hydro power projects, with many of the installations likely to be located in the East Midlands and Yorkshire. It is hoped the first of the 25 hydro installations will be generating renewable electricity by 2010.
"Britain's waterways were the arteries of our economy, providing transport and power," said the environment secretary, Hilary Benn. "This scheme shows how with ingenuity and innovation they can once again deliver real economic, social, and environmental benefits, especially in tackling and adapting to climate change."
Last year British Waterways also announced plans to build wind turbines with 100MW of generating capacity, and more recently it said it wanted unused land by canals and rivers to be turned into allotments.
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