Power to the people at turn of a screw

WHEN a small group of volunteers floated the idea of building a community-owned green electricity plant in their Yorkshire Dales village, few thought it was possible.

But less than two years on, the astonishing 400,000 Settle Hydro project is up and running, harnessing the river Ribble to generate nearly 200,000 kwh of renewable energy every year.

The electricity produced – enough to power around 50 homes – will be sold back to the National Grid at an estimated return of 40,000 a year, with profits being ploughed back into projects for the local community.

"It's about showing that individual people can make a difference to the place where they live," said Ann Harding, a local college lecturer who spearheaded the project along with village shopkeeper Steve Amphlett and business adviser Chris I'Anson.

"It isn't always somebody else's responsibility – that's the message we want to get across.

"We're all a bit green-minded and we wanted to do something good for Settle, something that would bring people and income to the town. We've got a river here and we thought we must be able to produce electricity."

The team formed their own company and organised a share issue for members of the local community.

Word of the project spread and around 160,000 was raised, with 160 people from across the country making pledges of between 250 and 20,000 for a share in the scheme. Bank loans and grants were sought to make up the remainder of the funding, and plans were drawn up for a hydro-generator based around the 2,000-year-old design of an Archimedean screw.

Construction work finally got under way last summer, with the first electricity being generated just a few weeks ago.

"It has been such hard work," Ms Harding said. "We had no idea how tough it would be – it was a triumph of ignorance and endurance, in a way."

Understandably, the scheme has received national publicity, and Ms Harding has found herself inundated with calls from people around the world interested in setting up similar projects.

"We must have had at least 150 communities throughout the UK wanting to replicate what we've done," she said. "We've had calls from the US, from Papua New Guinea, from Nicaragua... I don't know how people have found out about us but it seems to have inspired people."

And that, she adds, is the whole point.

"This little community is obviously never going to solve the problems of peak oil or climate change," she said. "But we want to help people realise that this is everyone's problem, and

we can all do something about it."