Saddleworth Community Hydro wins the Community Energy Collaboration Award, recognising the ground-breaking association between a community group and United Utilities.
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David Balmforth, President of ICE, awards Renewables First the North West Civil Engineering Community Project Award 2015, for their work on the Saddleworth Community Hydro scheme.
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On September 23rd, the Saddleworth Community Hydro scheme was officially opened by Adrian Ramsey, chief executive of the Centre for Alternative Technology claiming, “Saddleworth has led the way in promoting a clean, reliable supply of energy and it is extremely inspiring…”
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Renewables First commission England’s first community owned, high head micro hydro scheme.
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The turbine and generator was delivered to site pre-assembled in order to reduce on-site installation time.
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The penstock is being connected to the existing pipe work within the valve house and will divert water (flow) towards the turbine house. The configuration of the pipework enables the asset owner to isolate the flow from the penstock at any time, thus maintaining the physical separation of the reservoir asset from the Dovestone hydro scheme.
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With the subterranean levels completed, construction of the turbine house super-structure is now underway. This is designed to blend-in with existing reservoir architecture, thus reducing its visual impact.
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Designed by Renewables First, the turbine house will be a triple-layer construction, with a loading bay and hoist beam above ground, with the turbine chamber and sump below.
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One of the key design requirements of the Saddleworth Hydro scheme is to ensure that the compensation flow used to drive the Crossflow turbine is returned to the natural watercourse.
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With Planning Permission and all other Consents granted for the Saddleworth Community Hydro project, excavation work was able to commence for the turbine house chamber, sump and culvert.
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Renewables First design expertise integrates a 55 kW Crossflow into the existing dam infrastructure at Dovestone Reservoir. The key design principles of the project are to maintain the compensation flow to the Chew Brook, generate electricity from the flow released and allow for reservoir draw-down during emergency procedures.
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Renewables First has been hired to project manage a community hydro scheme on United Utilities owned Dovestone Reservoir, for Saddleworth Community Hydro. This will be the first community owned high head hydropower scheme in England!
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