St Neots Community Hydro Scheme.
The scheme proposal is to construct a Hydro Electric Power Plant (HEP) to be fed from the River Great Ouse to provide renewable energy for the benefit of the Local Community. The proposed site is on the meadow land on the west side of Mill Lane and on the South side of the bridge over the river.
There are quite a few examples of Community lead Hydro Electric plants being instigated around the UK. Some of these are at the pre-feasibility stage, some at feasibility stage, some in the course of construction and some already up and running and generating valuable renewable energy.
The UK Government has made a commitment to produce 15% of all power generated in the UK to be from renewable energy sources by 2020 and this scheme is being implemented in line with this policy and in support of this commitment.
It is intended that this scheme will be a true community scheme, organised by members from the local community, funded, as much as possible, by the community. It is planned that the scheme will benefit the members of the community who invest in the scheme as well as provide a regular community contribution to enable other renewable energy projects or community beneficial schemes to be implemented within the area.
What are the benefits of the St Neots Hydro Scheme? – Some of the benefits are - It will -
• Generate green electricity.
• Contribute to energy security, helping us to be more resilient in the face of problems of energy supply.
• Contribute to reducing our reliance on fossil fuels and carbon emissions.
• Be owned and run by local people as a social enterprise.
• Be a visitor attraction bringing tourists to the area.
• Provide a dividend for investors of (rate to be evaluated in the full feasibility study) tax payers are eligible
to claim tax relief under the Enterprise Investment Scheme (EIS).
• Be available for parties of school children to visit where they can view working machinery and have a live
video and data feed on the web so all can see electricity being generated in real-time.
We have already funded the Pre-Feasibility study which proved positive and are ready to move the scheme to the
next phase for which we need to achieve the following:
• To secure funding for a full feasibility study to be undertaken
• Apply to the Environmental and Planning Authorities
• Resolve Land ownership issues
The Scheme Proposers Group is looking for volunteers to help with the implementation of the scheme.
We are looking for additional skills and in particular we need the following skills - Legal for negotiating land leases and preparation of other legal documentation, Marketing, Fundraising, E & M engineering, Architectural and CAD preparation of scheme drawings. However, if you have any other expertise l which you can offer and consider you can help us, please contact us.
If you have time which you are willing to share with us to achieve success on this very exiting scheme and think you can help us, please contact us through the website;
