Micro Hydro-power :: part two

At last, it’s started! All those months of planning procedures, nail-biting times waiting for decisions to be made:

We now have Consent in order to carry out the works and we’ve received Listed Building Consent from the Secretary of State with several strict conditions to fulfil. This is due to the Mills Grade II* Listed status. We’ve also got the Water Abstraction Licence to generate electricity issued by the Environment Agency.

We’ve started digging out the tail-race, a messy job. Outside, in front of the upstream sluice we uncovered the concrete base beneath water in order to make proper fixings for the screens to filter the water coming into the building, to feed into the turbines.

Next, to prepare for HydroGeneration to do their first on-site work we removed the small decked-bridge over the sluice. The base was very rotten even though it’s less than 20 years old.

Tim & Mark of HydroGeneration arrived on mid-morning on 3^rd October following a 4/5 hour drive from the West Country and then to do a days work! After welcome coffees, the first task showed that the screens were not constructed to the right size which meant several phone calls to DDC Planning Department and a rethink.

Damming-off the pond away from the sluice to provide a working area on the concrete slab went relatively smoothly. When ‘the OK’ was given to go ahead with the redesign of the metal work it was a ‘heads-down’ to get as much done as possible whilst natural light permitted. In the evening, after a very, very long day, a hearty meal and hospitality laid-on by Pat, including an early B&B.

The following day work continued though most of the exterior work was under umbrellas and canopies with submersible pumps extracting water from the working area. The interior work involved some excavation and it seems we’ve probably got to dig down in the tailrace at least half a metre more than anticipated.

Next visit of HydroGen is 2/3 weeks away, meantime we’ve got to get digging!

We are still scheduled to complete the works by the end of this year. However, it’s likely that we’ll hold the formal press-launch until early next year.