Discovery through curiosity
During a lunchtime river walk, one of our engineers noticed a door was open to a building he often passes. A brief conversation led to an invite from Brian Jefferson to the Like Technologies team to come and visit Halton Lune Hydro.
This community-powered hydro, located just a short walk from our office in Halton, near Lancaster, provides power to the local community centre, the nearby co-housing development and other residential properties in the village. On average, the hydro will generate more than 1,000 MWh of electricity every year – equivalent to the consumption of 300 average homes and enabling CO2 savings of around 575 tons annually.
Working within the nuclear industry, with Heysham Power Station just a few miles away, we were naturally curious to find out more about this other source of renewable energy.
Opened in 2015 it uses the same technology that generated power for the cotton, silk and oil cloth mills that stood there in the 19th century. A small building next to Forge Weir houses two turbines that using the weight and energy of the water from the River Lune will turn, driving a generator, which will produce electricity and a state-of-the-art Larrinier fish pass.
Registered as a Society for the Benefit of the Community (Bencom) the construction of was financed by a mix of community shares and bank finance, with all of the environmental work funded by a grant from the EU. All surplus income generated from Halton Lune Hydro goes to the Halton Lune Trust.
The Guardian recently reported that ‘with energy prices rising, local schemes such as solar panels, locally-funded wind farms and even hydroelectric dams could be crucial to helping generate energy’ and Halton Lune Hydro was listed as a ‘good community energy project.’
Maintained by a committed group of volunteers you can find out more about the project by visiting their website.
To read The Guardian article they were recently featured in, please click here.
