Say ‘Hi!’ to Hydropower
News this week that that much-neglected, yet green energy source, hydropower returned, if not exactly to the headlines, to encourage us to consider it seriously as an investment opportunities.
Considering that the news this week highlighted the fact that, although Germany and France are now officially out of recession, our lack of any manufacturing base means that we are still in the throes of recession and the unemployment figures are set to rise with the graduates now hitting the dole queues, the time might be right to consider hydro more seriously.
The main obstacle to its implementation has, until recently, been the lack of any guidance on how to overcome or avoid the impact on the environment of constructing these alternative power sources, leading to the fact that hydro power in the UK is currently sufficiently active to power a mere 120,000 homes… not exactly inspiring.
However, this week sees the publication by the Environment Agency of its ‘Hydropower Good Practice Guidance’ (http://www.environment-agency.gov.uk/business/topics/water/32022.aspx) which provides a series of simple checklists to ensure compliance and speed up the whole process of getting the required approvals.
The approvals may only be for low head projects (a head of 5m) but that can actually make the decision easier to take if you or your company are looking to invest in a scheme that is not only sustainable and good for CSR, but also has a viable return on investment (which was not the case with the ultra-low head schemes – 3m or below).
What this opportunity also delivers is the chance for the UK to get back into the manufacturing business; at present, the best hydro systems come from mainland Europe. Since we need to be able to manufacture our way out of this recession, which the rest of Europe appears to already have exported its way out of, we could do worse than get back to our roots in the UK and use our service industry capital to invest in and (re)create the manufacturing base that it has been demonstrated this week we so badly need.
And while we’re at it, let’s take another look at the likes of Vestas and ‘get into’ wind turbine manufacturing. The marketing engines that sit within the organisations that you work for are capable of generating not just the energy, but the demand that the UK needs in order to be able to become (once again) a more balanced, and certainly a more sustainable, economic force than it is at present and it seems that the economy is being presented, albeit without the fanfare, with the ideal opportunity to do just that.
With the economic news this week making UK plc look even more insignificant, perhaps this week is the moment to be a little more long-sighted and get the business back on track.
August 13th, 2009 at 3:07 pm
Hydro??? The problem here is there are no sites in the UK where it can be implemented. You need vast amounts of space to dam in order for it to be viable. Scotland has the mountains and the requisite topography but it still causes massive environmental impact
August 14th, 2009 at 8:30 am
That’s exactly the point, Hydro.
There are already working hydro plants, but only in Scotland (5 to date, generating just under a combined 1,200MW).
The hydropower schemes discussed in the article are mini-hydro projects - much cheaper to implement and can generate power from rivers and weirs, so ‘do-able’ everywhere and anywhere in the UK apart from the very flattest land (looks like Norfolk might miss out, but otherwise we’re good to go!).
Environmental impact has been studied over the past 5 years and these schemes can be implemented without any negative impact to the environment… even the Anglers Association no longer has a problem with this!