Community hydro plant open its doors

TICKING over . . . Dr Andrew Taylor, Saddleworth Community Hydro member, undertaking the weekly checks

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AFTER officially opening a year ago, Saddleworth’s innovative hydro-electricity power plant opened its doors to the public at the weekend.

In 2008 a group of local residents had the idea to make use of the power of the water released from Dovestone Reservoir in Greenfield and convert it to electricity. United Utilities releases 16 million litres of water a day from the reservoir, which empties into the river. The water drops 114ft before joining the river - potentiaily offering a lot of power.

Local residents bought shares in a company that built a turbine house to intercept the flow and turn it into electricity for sale back to the Ntional Grid. The scheme is the first of its kind in the country and makes £30,000 a year.

Chairman of Saddleworth Community Hydro, Bill Edwards, said: “It’s been a very successful first year. It was a long time in the making and we hit a few road bumps on the way, but it’s fantastic to be a whole year in.”

The scheme, which now has over 180 shareholders, has been funded by grants and the sale of shares.

Saddleworth Community Hydro opened its turbine house to the public on Saturday. Mr Edwards said: “We’ve had a really good response and it has been fantastic to be able to show people what we are doing here.”