Hexham River Hydro - find out more
In the autumn of 2010 Hexham Community Partnership, the Transition Tynedale Energy Group
and Hexham Town Council established a working group to explore the potential for a community
owned hydro electricity scheme on the River Tyne in Hexham. This page will be updated
regularly with the latest progress report from the Hydro group. For answers to your questions click here or to see some of our press coverage click here.
For a summary of our Feasibility Study click here
For more detail about the project click here
January 2012
Following our success in the Energyshare bid we are pleased to be in a position to invite
expressions of interest from suitably qualified and experienced organisations to tender
for the detailed design (including all relevant environmental work), planning and licensing
for a 100kW low head hydro-electric scheme at Hexham Bridge, Hexham, Northumberland.
Please click here for details
3rd December
We made it! Against strong competition from some fantastic projects we are delighted to say
that thanks
to almost 4000 supporters we topped the poll today and won the energyshare
funding of
£100000 towards the next phases of this project. Thank you everyone!
November 2011
For a response to issues raised by David Hall in the Hexham Courant 18 November 2011 click here
We’re thrilled to be able to announce that Hexham River Hydro has been shortlisted for the final round of the
energyshare competition. The winners will be decided by online voting, which starts later this month (November).
We’ve been delighted by the level of public support we’re already received for our project. If we can increase
this level of support, we’ve got an excellent chance of securing energyshare funding, which we plan to use
for vital expenditure including detailed design and environmental monitoring to make sure our scheme has minimal
impact on wildlife. http://www.energyshare.com/hrh/
So if you’ve supported us in the past, please make sure you vote for us again, and please try to recruit more
supporters for our exciting project.
September 2011
Bob Hull went down to London and presented our case to the panel and we are very pleased to report that we
have been successful in our bid to gain the support of Carbon Leapfrog who will be helping us over the coming
months as we develop our business plan with a wide range of professional advice.
We have submitted our application to the next round of Energyshare so please sign up and support us.
Transition Tynedale and Hexham Community Partnership have both agreed that the group should aim to establish
a Community Benefit Industrial and Provident Society which will ultimately manage the hydro scheme.
August 2011
The closing date for the initial stakeholder consultation is the 31st August and we have had a good response
so far including at the two drop in sessions held at the Queens' Hall.
We are looking for funding for the next phase of the project and are preparing to put in a bid to Energyshare
so will be seeking votes again in the autumn.
Working group member Norman Rogers made a presentation about the project to the Friends of Tyne Green
on 17th August.
July 2011
Thanks to everyone who supported us we were top of the Energyshare poll on 30th June - a fantastic effort
from the whole community!
We now have the results of the feasibility study and have two alternative designs to consider. Stakeholder
consultation will take place in July and August and there will be drop-in sessions at the Queen's Hall in Saturday
6th and Friday 12th August from 9.30am to 1pm so conme along and find out more.
A copy of the summary of the Feasibility Study is available here and the response form is available here
June 2011
Support the hexham River Hydro project on www.energyshare.com/hrh
May 2011:
Come and offer your support to the Hexham River Hydro project by joining a quick photo shoot in aid of our
Energyshare funding application. We will be meeting at the Boathouse on Tyne Green at 9.30am on Saturday
7th May for approx 30mins. Please come and show your support.
April 2011:
With the support of Northumberland County Council and the Hexham Town Council a feasibility study has been
commissioned and is currently underway.
Following over-enthusiastic publicity in The Journal on 7th April 2011, the group would like to state very clearly
that a hydro-electric scheme on the Tyne at Hexham is only one of the sources of renewable power that we
hope to see developed to meet Hexham and Tynedale’s future energy needs. For the avoidance of any doubt,
the hydro scheme we are considering would NOT power the whole of Hexham!
Mayor of Hexham Cllr Terry Robson at a possible site of a turbine in Hexham