Brake hitch leaves village hydro project high and dry

The Yorkshire Post has learned that the River Bain Hydro Project, which is owned and run by members of the community around Bainbridge and billed as a blueprint for future energy production in the Dales, has worked for only four days since becoming operational on May 13.

Now engineers have had to close it down while spare parts are sent over from Germany after a spring failed in the brake mechanism.

The heads of the project, which has won the backing of Richmond MP William Hague, say it is still in its commissioning stage and because of low water levels in the summer it would only operate at 30 per cent capacity anyway.

They have stressed that the hydro, which it is hoped will provide energy for 50 households saving 3,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide every year, will be up and running soon.

The director of the River Bain Hydro Project, Coun Yvonne Peacock, said: “We are not concerned. We got it running and it was doing exceptionally well, better than we expected it to be.

“For four days it ran brilliantly and we were making good electricity.

“When we did our calculations we didn’t expect it to be running in the summer.

“There is a problem with the brake and that is holding us up.

“It is perfect to have these problems now.

“We are expecting this to run for 40 years.”

Managing director Steve Welsh of Water Power Enterprises which worked with the River Bain Hydro project to help get it off the ground, said: “The hydro is still going through its commissioning process.

“Once all that is done it is then left to free run.

“Water hydros only run in the summer for 30 per cent capacity because there has to be enough water in the river.”

The River Bain Hydro – an eight-and-a-half tonne Archimedean screw, follows on from the award-winning Settle Hydro, Yorkshire’s first community hydro project, and experts hope both schemes will provide the blueprint for an exciting future of water power across the Yorkshire Dales.

The area has a long history of harnessing water power for traditional industries and many villages operated their own electricity schemes in the early 1900s.

An early hydro scheme provided power in Bainbridge from 1912 to as recently as 1950.

Work started on site in October last year.

The scheme was financed by more than 200 shareholders with grants from CO2 Sense, a non-profit group that works with renewable energy projects, the Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority and a loan from the Charity Bank.