Extra income for land owners with a river/canal

[kward]

Hello everybody,

My partner and I are looking to rent a piece of land in Kent, Surrey or Sussex with a canal/river/a flowing body of water on a long term basis. We would like to finance and build a mini Hydro-power plant on it with new technology that doesn't rely on dams, and doesn't harm fish.

The flowing body of water on a land we would like to rent on a long term basis must met some criteria:
- The water has to drop by at least 1,5m
- The water has to have a mimimul flow of 1 qubic meter per second. A river of 1m width that flows for 1m a second should be sufficient.
- Preferably close to the road and within 200m of electricity feed-in-option to avoid unnessesary work.

The rent/income is dependant on the size of the river, the flow and the high difference of the drop but can be in the form of fixed rent, participation in the profit etc.

Looking forward to hearing from you,
Katerina

 

[steveR]

Not in your area, but I would wonder what the EA has to say, as they seem to be very anti micro -hydro accept in rare locations...

Good luck with your venture.

 

[f0ster]

this would be a turbulent water turbine?

 

[6910 Buzz]

What’s the new tech on this hydro plant

 

[f0ster]

you might find the environment agency will not allow you to take as much as 1 qubic meter per second.1 qubic meter per second would have to be only a few percentage points of the total flow. there is an Archimedes screw in the lake district running off a fast flowing river and in fine weather that have to shut it down even tho the river appears to still have lots of flow.

 

[renewablejohn]

Best of luck with the EA. Not a cat in hells chance when I asked in Lancashire although mine was tiered scheme.

 

[kward]

Thanks for your comments all. I will try and push it through EA, avoiding main rivers. With the focus that climate change is gaining at the moment it, it's amazing they're not more supportive.

Anyways.. yes, we are looking at turbulent. Basically instead of building a big damn, a vortex is created that fuels the turbine even with a drop of 1,5m.

If anybody knows anyone in the area that would want to join the journey - please let me know

Thanks!