Neen Sollars Community Hydro

We’re coming to the end of the process to clear up the site and get it running again after the serious autumn floods. We’ve been working with our long-term hydro experts at Derwent Hydro. They’ve tried hard to refurbish first our old generator (damaged in floods some years back) and then the most recent generator, but without success – both were seriously damaged. It may be that we can scavenge some parts to make a backup generator in the future, but for now we’ve had to buy in a new machine.

For an idea of what we’ve been doing to clean up the site see this short video expertly shot and edited by Peter Batt – many thanks Peter, and to the rest of the team who have been down on site getting things tidied up and/or supporting the works in other ways:

John Sandison, Chris Deaves, Jerry Turnbull, Jon Halle, Vicki Orttewell, Richard Orttewell, Ainsleigh Rice, Clare Tibbits, Daniel Wilson.

We carried out a major plant upgrade in the autumn of 2020. The initial impetus was to repair damage from the floods earlier in the year and to carry out changes to our grid connection relay as required by changes in the grid code. We intended to use this opportunity to rewire and re-site our control panel and to upgrade our control technology,

In the event, the overhaul of the plant we carried out was significantly more complex than envisioned. Some more details are given below. The headline is however that the plant is now running more reliably and at a higher output level than ever before. Our initial aim was to seek reliable operation at 5 kW, and our hope was that over time we might be able to increase that somewhat. We are delighted to say that since restarting the system of December 7th we have seen largely stable operation at an output of around 11 kW (rising to 13kW as a maximum on occasion).

The core work was carried out by Derwent Hydro, with the very helpful assistance of NSCH members: Jon Halle, Jerry Turnbull, Chris Deaves and John Sandison. The step change in performance has depended also on our landowners at Tetstill, Kevin and Querida Flook. Not only did they help us during the installation phase but we now have an operational agreement whereby they keep the hydro screen clean and carry out other operational tasks in exchange for a share of income. We thank both our site team and our landowners for going above and beyond the call of duty on numerous occasions.

The combined effect of improved equipment and improved operational support has been remarkable. Up to 7 December 2020 point the plant had generated 22,756 kWh in total. In the 2 months following that date we added another 14,000 kWh! This is despite the recurrent flood spikes which have obliged us to halt the hydro on 4 separate occasions.

The works were funded partly by grant funds and partly by a short-term loan from Sharenergy which we are now working to pay off. It is too early to guess what the long term financial outcomes will be for members, but what is certain is that our collective effort is now generating very low-carbon energy on the scale we envisaged right back in 2011 when we started work on this project.

List of major works carried out:

• Re-siting of control panel to cabinet outside garage (NSCH team built a new concrete plinth for this purpose)
• Upgrade of control system to SCS MK2 with remote monitoring and control
• Replacement of grid connect relay to meet latest standards
• Replacement of generator (previous generator had been more damaged by floods than we supposed and we replaced with spare that Milson Airstrip had kindly been keeping for us for many years)
• Rewiring of much of the installation
• Replacement of drive belts
• Replacement and redesign of lubrication system
• Installation of additional metering

The hydro plant is currently non-operational and has worked sporadically since it was installed in July 2014. Following initial teething issues Ampair, the company that designed and installed the turbine, went bankrupt in February 2015 leaving the plant not completely functional. NSCH has attempted to work to get the turbine working again with sporadic support from previous Ampair employees and others but it has become clear that a more comprehensive approach is needed.

NSCH believes that the turbine and civil works are fundamentally sound and that the turbine can be brought back into operation. A team has been brought together of members of the Society and supporters from outside the Society. This team aims to get the turbine reliably operating at the relatively low level of 5kW by the winter season beginning October 2018.

This plan is well advanced and technical experts Derwent Hydro are due on site at the end of March 2018 to carry out works aimed at getting the turbine working reliably. A work party of members and supporters is cleaning the site in preparation on 23 March.

Funding has been obtained from 3 sources. Firstly, several members have kindly offered interest-free loans. Second, Sharenergy Co-operative have offered free annual administration for the project to date and deferral of funds owed from the inception of the project (and have also made an interest-free loan). Third, we have had a very generous grant from Leominster Community Solar which has been invaluable in getting us on the right track.

It is with great sadness that we learn of the death of John Bettinson, owner of and resident of Tetstill Mill. He was the most wonderful supporter or our project – firstly agreeing to let us build a community hydro plant at his home, and then through the intervening years providing so much in the way of flexibility, constructive criticism and good humour. Along with all who knew him will will miss him greatly.

John Bettinson addressing an early NSCH AGM

Principle 6 of the International Co-op Principles states that co-ops help each other out – we were the lucky recipient of co-ops in action when Midcounties Co-operative gave us a very welcome £2,000 grant to help with the additional costs we’ve been incurring getting the turbine properly running. We’re very glad to say that the faulty actuator on the turbine has now been replaced and the turbine is now humming away, albeit at a reduced power level of 2kW until all the grid testing is complete.

The rain has come right on time as we enter what is hopefully the final week of installation. The famous stump that we found at the base of the weir has been removed finally and last Friday the slab which will sit below the inlet screen was cast. The screen is set to go in place towards the end of the week – then we can remove the temporary dam and the installation will be physically complete. Our turbine ought to see its first flows for commissioning purposes sometime next week – if that goes well we hope to harvest a little of this rain perhaps even before October is out.