28 October 2010

Local finance flows as old mills and weirs come back on stream
Climate Change Minister Greg Barker today called on enterprising communities to harness the power of their rivers and streams to generate both green electricity and money, as he visited the Torrs Hydro scheme in New Mills, Peak District.

Greg Barker will use today's visit to a successful community hydro scheme in the Peak District to announce that former mills and water turbines which are brought back to life will now be eligible for financial support under the feed-in tariff.

To help drive forward the ambitious new plan, DECC is also launching the new hydropower help guide, prepared by the Environment Agency, which offers advice to groups looking to use the power of local streams, weirs or rivers to cut emissions and generate new income for their areas.

Energy and Climate Change Minister, Greg Barker, said:

"I'm calling on communities across the UK to harness the power of their rivers and streams to generate electricity and money. The community of New Mills in the Peak District are already doing this.

"When it comes to the UK's performance on renewables there's much more to do and hydropower is currently a missed opportunity. There is more to renewable energy than just large wind turbines. We need to unlock the clean energy of our past as well as the future.

"To do that we need to make it easy and attractive for local people to revive our traditional waterways and help produce more local clean energy.

"This hydro help guide will give clear information on how to get new schemes up and running. I also want to see old mills and turbines brought back to life, some of which were operating in the 1940s and 1950s before the National Grid existed.

For the full news article and to be taken to the website, click here