Herefordshire Hydro

 
 
The website of The Alternative Technology Centre (ATC) is a not-for-profit organisation established in 1999 on the banks of the Rochdale Canal in Hebden Bridge. http://www.alternativetechnology.org.uk/
http://www.powerfromthelandscape.co.uk/
The use of water power in the South Pennines can be traced back to very early records of corn and fulling mills through to powering the Industrial Revolution of the 19th C.

Power from the Landscape aims to make water power a common feature of the landscape once again and provide clean renewable energy for the people of the area. It will support communities in developing micro hydro projects across the area, providing impartial advice and support on all technology and financial options for a site.
 
North Yorkshire and Durham UK are working on a new hydropower project see
http://www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/news/4832639.Hydroelectric_power_station_to_be_built_in_Teesdale/
 
Much current discussion on microhydro in underdeveloped countries, below from [email protected] 17/01/10
There are many in depth studies on this subject, here are a few....

http://finesse-africa.org/newsletter/200604/hp_westafrica.php

http://indigenouspeoplesissues.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1497%3Aa-simple-technology-for-complicated-woe-micro-hydro-in-sabah-and-sarawak&catid=62%3Asoutheast-asia-indigenous-peoples&Itemid=84&lang=en

http://webapps01.un.org/dsd/caseStudy/public/displayDetailsAction.do?code=256

http://www.ewb-international.org/partnerslist.htm

http://www.esha.be/fileadmin/esha_files/documents/publications/articles/IT_Power_final.pdf

http://www.udc.edu/cere/Williams_Porter.pdf

http://www.planeta-observatory.gov.np/publication/proceedings/Proceeding(seminar-S&T).pdf

http://www.gnesd.org/Downloadables/GnesdRegionalWorkshop.pdf

"In conclusion, the blame for a quarter
of the world's population being
deprived of energy cannot be laid at
the door of nature or of technology.
Nature provides an abundance of
energy, and the technology exists to
exploit it. It is the lack of appropriate
policies and actions that is creating
islands of deprivation." excerpt from Gnesd above

Conrad,

Canada

" Does a man Light a lamp and hide it under a bushel?" Joshua Ben Joseph
 
Se these URLs for the Press release and discussion forum, checklist is in the Data Files

press release here:
http://www.environment-agency.gov.uk/news/110199.aspx?month=8&year=2009&sector=Energy
To read or contribute to this new topic click: http://www.sharenergy.coop/network/mod/groups/topicposts.php?topic=530&group_guid=17
 

FISH IN HEAD/MILL PONDS OF HYDROPOWER INSTALLATIONS
Comments from Richard Gardiner (Cefas) [email protected]
What is the definition of farming? From http://www.efishbusiness.co.uk

Fish Farming is 'the keeping of live fish with a view to their sale or transfer to other waters'. Only enterprises where the primary purpose is the sale or transfer of fish are regarded as carrying on the business of fish farming.
oOo
Eel fisheries. Are under the control of the Environment Agency as are all inland fisheries. If you wish to capture wild eels then you will need permission from the Agency prior to fishing and the engine/net you use may need licensing and in the case of fyke nets will need to be tagged.

If you are able to look at our website www.efishbusiness.co.uk  you will find details of the consents required for removing fish including eels and the Environment Agencies own website will contain information including contact information. You will also need to be aware that there is a European wide initiative on eel conservation following the recent decline in eel populations throughout Europe.

It is possible that we would not regard your operation [incidental fishing in head/mill ponds]  as fish farming and if you are simply cropping off an existing stock it is unlikely that you would need to be an authorised fish farm. You would however fall under the definition of an aquatic holding and would therefore need to register under the Aquatic Animal Health Regulations. As previously stated you would also need to operate in line with the Environment Agency laws and as to establishing a stock within a mill pond that is part of the river system this could be problematic. You would require screening to retain the your stock and there are specific laws regarding the free passage of fish through a river system and you will need to investigate this further with the Agency.

contact for inland fishing matters http://www.anglingtrust.net they are based in Leominster in the Group area.

 

The Spiteri Water Pump, a fuel-free, electricity-generating machine, walked away with the national prize during an awards ceremony held at the European Parliament in Brussels. Developed by Joe Spiteri Sargent, the machine operates under a water surface and harnesses latent hydrostatic energy naturally present in a body of water, transferring it to produce an artificial waterfall to produce electricity via a hydro-electric power system. According to Mr Spiteri Sargent, the main benefits of this innovative product are that it has very low running costs and operates without the use of consumables. Furthermore, it can be placed in any water body in the world and produces energy 24 hours a day, seven days a week. There are no emissions from this energy transfer process.”
http://www.rexresearch.com/spiteri/spiteri.htm
http://www.joespiterisargent.com/

 

It was announced in the City Diary in the Daily Telegraph on 18.04.09 that H M The Queen is to go ahead with the installation of a hydroelectric unit on the Thames to feed Windsor Castle.  Recently nPower pulled out of the project, but the project is now to proceed with Southeast Power Engineering working with the Environment Agency
Southeast Power Engineering Ltd is a UK based hydropower development company in partnership with Summit Asset Management, who specialise in creative and cost effective solutions to difficult hydropower challenges. For further information about Southeast Power Engineering call 01932 883877. For further information about Summit Asset Management visit www.summitasset.co.uk.

 

Traditionally holding ponds, mill dams were a source of local fish rearing. Particularly eels and pike. Comments from the authorities as follows:-

Thank you for your enquiry regarding establishing small scale fish farms as part of microhydro projects. We can see no reason why farms cannot be established in this manner but they will need to be operated in line with the Aquatic Animal Health (England & Wales) Regulations 2009 and will also need to meet the requirements of the Environment Agency. Under the Aquatic Animal Health (England & Wales) Regulations 2009 all finfish farms are required to be authorised and any fisheries or cropping waters looking to remove or stock fish are required to be registered.

Further information can be found on the website www.efishbusiness.co.uk and if you have any further queries please do not hesitate to contact us.
Yours Sincerely Richard Gardiner
oOo
From Robert Packham, Fish Health Inspector, Cefas
In answer to your question:

“What would be the position of a mill or hydropower site owner with a holding pond if they also used the pond for rearing fish for sale? Has anyone recently examined the old monastic system of re-cycling food waste, by having a pike fish pond [luce in stew] near the kitchen, into which were thrown the kitchen scraps. The pike ate them, and were in turn caught and eaten by the monks?”

This question throws up several different queries
If a mill or hyrdopower facility wished to rear fish for sale they would have to authorise the site as an aquaculture production business with Cefas, this would have to be after consent was granted by the Environment Agency to continue after ecological impact assessment and species farmed was examined.
The second part of the question refers to feeding the fish waste products. This query in this day and age throws up several points.
I think in reality that carp were farmed more so than pike, carp being mainly herbivorous would have been able to digest vegetable waste from the monastic gardens and convert it into protein to supplement the monks diets, indeed the term ‘monk’ is still used nowadays in modern farming practices for the structures that allow the ponds to be drained and harvested.
The feeding of ‘waste’ products into a pond may cause water quality issues which could kill or reduce the growth of fish.
Pike being a predator would require a more protein based diet and would therefore be less likely to be farmed and indeed unless the waste was fish based the resulting growth rates would be poor. More likely what would have happened was that waste was fed to herbivorous fish which were then predated by the pike.
With regard to this practice nowadays I think that the farming method is not particularly viable given the constraints of modern life and competition from other sectors, however there is one farm that is farming organic carp for the table but the diet fed to the carp is greatly constrained in order to meet organic status and also Food standard agency requirements.
I hope this answers your questions
Yours Sincerely Rob Packham
Fish Health Inspector, Cefas
Weymouth Laboratory,
Barrack Road,
The Nothe,
Weymouth,Dorset.DT4 8UB
Tel: +44 (0)1305 206676
Mob: +44 (0)7769882716
www.cefas.co.uk

 

Co-op store runs directly on hydro power Wednesday, 03 December 2008
The Co-operative Group (Co-op) is powering its New Mills food store in Derbyshire using water from the nearby River Goyt.

According to the company, the micro-hydro installation can power more than 50% of the store's energy needs a year.

Local people own and fund the sustainable energy project through a "unique share scheme", the Co-op said.

Sustainable development manager Chris Shearlock said: "The Co-operative's family of businesses have worked together to support the innovative scheme, with a grant from The Co-operative Fund to help with the establishment of community-ownership and The Co-operative Bank helping with commercial finance.

"We are also planning to extend this support to further micro-hydro schemes across the country."

 

Please note the negotiation of this project
Europen Commission, Intelligent Energy Projects
Stream Map For Small Hydropower In The Eu (SHP STREAMMAP)
http://ieea.erba.hu/ieea/page/Page.jsp?op=project_detail&prid=1820

The co-ordinator for this project has been contacted by the webmaster to gather more information