Shrewsbury weir electricity plans may be flushed away

Only two months ago, plans to generate energy from a turbine to be built at Castlefields Weir were moving ahead.

Shrewsbury Town Council has pledged £20,000 towards the hydro feasibility scheme, which has been match-funded by Shropshire Council.

But specialist consultants Thames Renewables has this week reported back to Shrewsbury Town Council and said that previous estimates on the amount of electricity to be generated were "very ambitious" and did not take in to account the nature of the River Severn and the size and drop of the weir.

Thames Renewables was appointed by the town council on behalf of the town council, Shropshire Council and the Environment Agency to carry out the research.

The brief was to report on the options for generating hydro-electricity at the weir, to include the most appropriate technology, potential output, economic viability, environmental impact and long term sustainability of any project.

The findings outlined that previous suggestions on the size of any project and its potential yield were very ambitious given the seasonal fluctuation in river flow and the relatively short drop in levels at the Weir.

The River Severn, probably unlike any other river in the country, is extremely dependent on what occurs further up-stream along its tributaries and in the Welsh mountains, the report says.

Its potential for generation in the summer is non-existent and its flow in winter is erratic and unpredictable.

Given that the generator could only be feasibly used for between four and five months a year, previous estimates of yield from any scheme were therefore inaccurate, according to the report.

Thames Renewables also raised other issues regarding possible impact regarding noise, fish, flooding and reliability of technology.

Alan Mosley, committee chairman, said: "We were disappointed with some of the well-researched conclusions, especially given the level of public interest in a possible scheme. Due to the risks involved we decided that the town council should not make further investment in the project, which would be based largely on our land to the south of the river.

"However, the consultant believes that there are other specialist organisations who may be interested in embarking on the work at the lower scale proposed.

"Hence, we resolved that the consultants should complete their work by supporting both councils, and the Environment Agency, through a procurement process and go on to make recommendations about the most appropriate contractor to take the project forward on a commercial basis."

It is expected that the procurement process with start this summer with documentation available in August. No-one was available for comment from Shropshire Council.

Generating hydroelectricity from the weir has been an aspiration for several years.The hydro scheme is likely to be developed on the Underdale side of the river.

In March, it was announced the Shrewsbury Hydro group has separately been awarded £19,400 by the Rural Community Energy Fund to look into the feasibility of electricity from the weir.