About this group
Project Background
Dudbridge Locks Hydro Scheme
The Cotswold Canals Trust is working with the Stroud Valleys Canal Company to implement a small scale hydro power scheme to utilise surplus water flowing down the Stroudwater canal at the Dudbridge Locks near Stroud. Both organisations are registered charities.
The Cotswold Canals Trust is the largest canal society in the UK with over 6900 members and the Stroud Valleys Canal Company was set up in 2009 to take on the role of maintaining the canal and is effectively the canal landowner.
Aim of the Project
The aim of the project is to derive a long term sustainable income to help support the maintenance and operation of restored sections of the Cotswold Canals into the future for the benefit of the public and the wider heritage and wildlife environment. In the absence of any likely substantial subsidies from the public sector, this kind of innovative form of income will be important. We anticipate that the hydro scheme will generate a net income of about £21,000 of green energy per year and this will be supplied to the national grid. We expect CCT and community volunteers to help run and maintain the completed hydro scheme and its location adjacent to Marling School and other nearby colleges/schools offers significant learning opportunities.
Technical Outline
The Dudbridge hydro scheme is reasonably straightforward and non-controversial in that it takes the water that currently cascades over two locks and generates power from it. The scheme has been fully discussed with both the EA and Stroud District Council and the necessary approvals are being secured.
The scheme has an intake above the upper lock and discharges immediately below the lower one. The fall is about 5m and the flow rates depend on the flows in the canal that derive from the combined flows from Painswick Stream and Slad Brook.
The analysis carried out in the design produced by HydroGeneration, a local company, proposes an Ossberger crossflow turbine with a maximum recommended flow rate of 0.700 m3/s but capable of operating efficiently down to 0.117 m3/s. This should generate a maximum of 23kW and 108,196 kWh in an average flow year.
The civil engineering element of the project is made more complex due to the nature of the site and the need for the scheme to be integrated with that necessary to restore the canal. It also means that the civil engineering works have to be undertaken at the same time as the canal works and these are schedule for later this year.
Marling School and Stroud High School are adjacent to the installation site. This project will involve 10 A/S level students who are designing equipment and carrying out flow measurements on site to confirm historical data used for our turbine selection and give them practical experience in managing an engineering project. A power cable connection to the Sports Hall is being investigated.
Progress
Planning Approvals and all the EA licences necessary to complete and operate the scheme are now in place.
The construction of the intake, pipeline and turbine house is being undertaken as part of a wider project to restore the locks and provide a flood bypass weir at Dudbridge. Work on this project is well underway.
The next phase will be to install the turbine and all the other M&E kit needed to complete the project and the timing of this is dependant on raising the rest of the funing needed.
Financial
The budget for the whole scheme is £310,000 which includes a 15% contingency with the first £110,000 phase due to be completed in summer 2012 to coincide with the canal restoration work. Capital funding is expected to come from a number of sources including grants, sponsorship, and, if necessary, a loan covering any manageable funding gap to be repaid using some of the hydro income.
So far £158,000 has been raised and another £40,000 - £70,000 is anticipated or is the subject of live funding applications.
We are seeking grants and sponsorship to help us complete the funding package to enable us to bring this project to fruition.
Ken Burgin, Chief Executive - Cotswold Canals Trust
Tel: 0752 590 0374 Email: ken.burgin@pikelock.com
Keith Tibbitts, Project Manager - Cotswold Canals Trust
Tel: 07715 104117 Email: khtibbitts@yahoo.co.uk
Energy type
