Shrewsbury weir hydro-power bid wins £15,000 backing

Hopes of generating electricity from Shrewsbury's weir have moved a step closer after the hydro scheme won thousands of pounds of funding.

The Shrewsbury Hydro Group, part of Transition Town Shrewsbury, has won £15,000 of funding after a vote run by the Energy Share Launch Fund of British Gas.

It will now allow the group to start surveys on the project, including a full Flood Risk Survey, a Fish Pass Survey, and a Protected Species Survey plus associated work so that everything is in place for planning purposes.

Local firms will start work at Shrewsbury's weir, in Castlefields, before Christmas and bosses expect to have the results by the end of February.

If results confirm the scheme is viable a turbine could be installed generating almost two million kilowatt hours of electricity every year. It would save up to 1,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions when compared to using electricity from a conventional power station.

The financial viability of a hydro scheme has been shown by the feasibility studies already carried out.

Mark Scutt, energy coordinator at Transition Town Shrewsbury, said: "The overall scheme is now a step closer and we've received a lot of local support.

"We've already done a feasibility study and now this allows us to commission the experts to carry out the remaining surveys which need to be done before we hopefully move forward with the project.

"It will all be done by firms from in and around Shropshire and we aim to get it started by Christmas.

"Of all the votes in every category we registered the sixth highest number so we're absolutely delighted."

The hydro group finished joint winners in the small category in a decision made on Saturday in London's West End. The competition started with 800 groups but was whittled down to 19 finalists who were put to a public vote in June.

Proposals and quotations from major UK and European manufacturers of water turbines and Archimedean screws have been received.