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Tees Valley set for hydroelectric station

Water power will be used to generate electricity in the Tees Valley, officials have announced.

A hydroelectric station is to be built at Selset Reservoir, near to Barnard Castle, County Durham, now that a power partnership has been signed by Northumbrian Water and RWE npower renewables.

It will generate up to 750 kilowatts of electricity - 4,000 megawatt hours a year - sufficient to meet the average annual needs of about 1,000 households. The power generated will be fed into the national grid.

It will add to Northumbrian Water’s hydro-power plant at Kielder Water, which is also operated in partnership with RWE npower renewables.

The larger Kielder scheme generates some 20,000 megawatt hours, sufficient to meet the average annual needs of about 5,000 households.

Work on the £2.5 million Selset hydroelectric project will begin early in 2010.

It will require integration with the existing water supply operations, improvement of an access road and construction of a small building, which will house the turbine and generator.

The water level of Selset reservoir, which when full holds 15,320 million litres, will be lowered to facilitate safe working conditions during construction.

Tim James, project manager at RWE npower renewables, said: “We have a number of hydroelectric projects in Wales and Scotland and this is the first we have constructed in England. It will make a useful contribution to UK renewable energy targets.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ruth Mitchell .