Small Hydro and the nimbys

[JohnB]

But I'd rather have a few of them in my back yard than a 1gig nuke a hundred miles away.

They wouldn't work in your back yard. You haven't got a stream .

[An Inspector Calls]

But I'd rather have a few of them in my back yard than a 1gig nuke a hundred miles away.

Great, very useful.

• Has anyone done any consideration of whether 15 kW is the right sized turbine for the job - so you'd have to look at typical flow-duration curves for the river?
  Has anyone considered likely maintenance issues and costs? This is important because the scheme, at 15 kW max production, has a maximum revenue of £26,200 per annum. If the capacity factor is the usual 20 %, you're down to £5,000 per annum. You've probably got no debt repayments, tax, rates, etc. but who's going to clean this thing, check over basic safety and operation of the system?

I'm not particularly bothered either way whether you go ahead or not. In the end, UK PLC is paying for this. But at least with this scheme there's a very public group of people driving the scheme forward and they can be seen to carry the can.

[kenneal - lagger]

• Has anyone done any consideration of whether 15 kW is the right sized turbine for the job - so you'd have to look at typical flow-duration curves for the river?
  Has anyone considered likely maintenance issues and costs? This is important because the scheme, at 15 kW max production, has a maximum revenue of £26,200 per annum. If the capacity factor is the usual 20 %, you're down to £5,000 per annum. You've probably got no debt repayments, tax, rates, etc. but who's going to clean this thing, check over basic safety and operation of the system?

I'm not particularly bothered either way whether you go ahead or not. In the end, UK PLC is paying for this. But at least with this scheme there's a very public group of people driving the scheme forward and they can be seen to carry the can.

Yes! This is the first of two or three possible sites. We have to maintain flows in the river so we have to spread the water abstraction from canal to river across the length of the river in the town.

We originally wanted to put in three 1.5MW wind turbines but a bunch of NIMBYs didn't like it and suggested hydro. If the hydro doesn't work we can blame it on the NIMBYs but there is no reason why the hydro shouldn't work. It was very interesting that the people nearest the wind turbines were in favour. It was the people in the bigger houses further away, who couldn't see them, that were against.

We should get a very good capacity factor out of them because we aren't taking the full flow available. Because we are using a number a smaller turbines we should get a very high capacity factor out of at least one and we can keep wear even by shutting them down alternately.

[An Inspector Calls]

So what are the flow characteristics of the river, in broad terms of flow (cumecs) and duration?