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Schemes tabled for harnessing Ouse power to make electricity
TWO schemes intended to use the power of the River Ouse to generate electricity for sale to the National Grid have been submitted at Linton Lock, upstream of York, where the navigation forms the boundary between two local authorities.
The farming family of J R and K Throup, of Grange Farm, Nun Monkton, on the south side of the river, was granted planning permission for a hydropower plant by Harrogate Borough Council in October 2003, but it subsequently had to be modified to meet new requirements to safeguard species such as river lamprey.
The permission, which would have allowed half the 42 cubic metres of water per second flowing down the river to be diverted through an Archimedes screw turbine to produce 450 kilowatts of electricity, expired in October and a revised application is now with Harrogate Council.
Simultaneously, Hambleton District Council is considering an application from the Small Hydro Company Ltd, which wants to instal a number of small hydropower schemes on lowland rivers it Britain. It says the project at Linton Lock would generate one megawatt of energy – enough to provide renewable energy for 1,000 households.
The Small Hydro Company says its scheme would provide 2.5 per cent of the renewable generation target for the Hambleton district for 2010. The revised scheme from the Throups' Nun Monkton Estate would generate 130 kilowatts of electricity, which it says represents 14.44 per cent of the Harrogate district's hydropower target for 2021.
The Nun Monkton Estate's application is for a hydropower plant at the side of the Grade II listed weir at Linton Lock – opposite a site where York Corporation erected a turbine in the 1920s to meet the increased demand for electricity after the First World War. It ran until the 1950s, but the old turbine house on the lock island is now in a state of disrepair.
The weir at Linton was constructed in the late 1760s and is reputed to be the work of renowned engineer and lighthouse builder John Smeaton, but the Small Hydro Company (SHC) says this may be incorrect. It says Smeaton was appointed canal engineer for the Forth and Clyde in 1768 and that the project took 22 years.
According to SHC, John Smith junior, chief engineer of the Linton Lock Commissioners, drew up the plans for Linton Lock and they were later approved by Smeaton. The salmon ladder, first constructed in timber in 1864, was added in its present form in 1899. SHC say: "It is highly likely that John Smeaton was not the originator of the design of Linton Lock, its weir or the salmon ladder."
SHC, which is proposing to use two Kaplan turbines 2.25 metres in diameter, wants to instal them below and adjacent to the lock island on the weir. It is seeking permission to raise the height of the existing weir by 0.3 metres to preserve the river levels for boats which can navigate to the canal basin in Ripon. Under both schemes the salmon ladder would be refurbished to encourage fish migration.
Nun Monkton Estate operates an award-winning programme of school visits to its farm and it is hoped that the hydropower scheme would be a useful addition for children to see the generation of sustainable energy. David Throup said: “As the principle of a hydropower scheme at this site has already been approved, we hope that the new scheme will be similarly approved.”
Although Harrogate Council and Hambleton Council will be consulted on both projects, it is expected that the two authorities will determine them independently.
Neither can go ahead without an abstraction licence from the Environment Agency.
brian.dooks@ypn.co.uk
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Saturday 26 May 2012
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