‘Farmhouse’ power plant to supply 1,000 homes

Jan 5 2010 by Tony Henderson, The Journal

WATER will be used in the North East to power the equivalent of 1,000 homes.

A hydroelectric station is to be built at Selset Reservoir, near Barnard Castle in County Durham, as part of a power partnership between Northumbrian Water and RWE npower renewables.

The venture will add to Northumbrian Water’s hydro power plant at Kielder Water in Northumberland, Northern Europe’s largest man-made reservoir, which is also operated in partnership with RWE npower renewables.

The Kielder scheme generates power to meet the average annual needs of about 5,000 households.

Work on the £2.5m Selset hydroelectric project will begin soon. It will require construction of a small building to house the turbine and generator, to be built in the style of a stone Teesdale farm building with a pitched roof.

The water level of Selset reservoir, which when full holds 15,320 million litres, will be lowered to allow safe working conditions during construction.

Tim James, project manager at RWE npower renewables, said: “We have a number of hydroelectric projects in Wales and Scotland and this is the first we have constructed in England. It will make a useful contribution to UK renewable energy targets.”

Dr Colin Price, Northumbrian Water’s technical director, said: “We believe that creating renewable energy where we can is the responsible way forward, for the business, our customers and the environment.”