Notes from C+W LCCN meeting, 13/7/11
Richard Body (pron bowdy) talked about the technical side of New Mills Hydro / Torrs Hydro (
It’s beside a weir in the park, downstream from two reservoirs – which have first pick on the water. They’ve also got to keep some water going over the weir – it’s old, and would crumble if it dried. The turbine is a 53kW reverse Archimedes Screw.
The Government reckon the average household uses 4000kWh of electricity a year, a supermarket 400,000kWh. All their electricity goes to the nearby Co-op store, with any surplus going to the grid. They reckon to be able to supply half of the Co-ops needs; and to match the demand when the store is shut.
They get 10.3p/kWh. They got grant funding, receive ROCs, but were too early for FiTs.
The rotor turns at 30rpm; this is geared up to 1500rpm for the generator. There’s a meter, and another at the Co-op: there’s about 1% loss between.
They’ve yet to have a decent year’s generation. They started up September 2008, and had lots of problems. They had more problems the following year, and so far this year has proved dry.
Esther Jones, a founder director of Torrs Hydro, spoke about the Community Shares experience.
They needed to raise £360k, through grants, loans and shares. Grants came from the Regional Development Agency and the Co-op. Being an Industrial and Provident Society allowed a community share offer, providing an affordable share issue and democratic ownership my the membership (one person one vote). They’re also allowed to pay their investors interest – enough to attract and retain investment.
Given advice by Wessex Reinvestment Trust (not certain of that name) they developed an invitation to invest document. Shareholders were allowed between £250 and £20k. They set a clear target of raising £126k, and a closing date of 31st January. This was to allow them to get the equipment ordered and shipped ready for installation in the non-spawning season – June.
They succeeded: because people wanted it, there was a fixed target and time, they had good PR and a passionate, focussed committee.
Useful information at
They have 330 shareholders, half local, some other SK postcodes, a third elsewhere – nationwide. The latter put up proportionally more money.
The loan is for 10 years. And shareholders can ask for their money back after 3 years – they’ve not been able to pay any interest yet. There are, however, people waiting to buy shares.
Payback, based on the original output calculations, was 12 years. The equipment is expected to last 40 years. H2O helped them set up.
Volunteers make sure the turbine is working – there’s a lot of retired engineers amongst them. The screw won’t work with either too little or too much water – they stop it. The fish ladder cost £80k; they’ve mounted a camera over it to see it in use.
The committee meets every 2 months. They’ve had 80-100 people at the AGM, a little less this time.
See the Hydro Association’s website. (including how to calculate how much power you’ve got, here)
Nicola said that the Bollington Hydro scheme had been put off.
Colin, of Food4Macc
40% of UK food is imported.
Before starting, they visited various nearby transition towns – Leek, Buxton, etc.
They raised awareness: local paper, 2 week’s space in the library, radio, and the Barnaby Parade when the team dressed in vegetable costumes.
They support 7 community gardens: care homes, schools, a college, community gardens, and recently the town centre.
In return for tidying and orchard they got permission to grow crops there.
They now have 12 garden shares going, where elderly residents with gardens have them tended by younger folk without. They’ve set up their own landshare website.
Keen to involve local food suppliers: they set up a webmap of them, with details of what they supply.
Food4Macc Direct is now a company, it collates orders from purchasers for local produce, which are then collected at a central venue, the Snowgoose, every Thursday. They also run farm visits and cookery lessons. The original Food4Macc was promoting customer/producer dialogue; Food4Macc Direct is now an intermediary.
Various people donated land, money, goods – even a supermarket allowed bag packing.
The Food4Macc card gives discounts in garden centres.
Having started Food4Macc concerned about climate and peak oil, last year they decided to launch Transition Macclesfield – and attracted new faces. So they’ve now got a repairing/reusing group, a transport group, and more. They’re just about ready for a steering committee.
John Heselwood of Cheshire Action talked about a lottery bid he was proposing, in order to finance a full time member of staff to support C+W LCCN and pull in extra resources. It would be under BLF’s Reaching Communities grants, which covers running costs. He’d like evidence of benefits and the need for the network. Much of BLF is about supporting people in need – see their website.
Green directory – Peter Bulmer asked if people had looked at the Leicester(?) green guide he’d circulated. He was proposing a C+W green guide.
Green Doors. Part of Lymm Festival was a look around houses where energy saving and/or renewable energy had been installed. It ran from 12 - 5pm, tickets costing £2.50. They found that homes in the centre got all the business, while outlying homes were quiet. Those with most people couldn’t have handled more than 30 – there was a lot of talking involved, unlike open gardens. They sold 40 tickets, and took the names and addresses of purchasers for security.