Hydroelectricity cash-crop for Welsh farmers

Hydroelectricity is set to become a popular crop as farmers recognise the technology's potential, and the Welsh Assembly Government (WAG) announces new grants.

Growing numbers of farmers are seeing brooks or rivers on their land as potential income sources, and the new grants covering 40% of costs (maximum GBP25,000) are fuelling a surge Many visitors at the recent Royal Welsh Agricultural Society (RWAS) Smallholder and Garden Festival scoured the Green Horizons Building for information or advice on hydroelectricity.

Hydrologist Steve Barber-Bailey, Director of the water engineering consultancy Penrallt Consulting, said that he was both surprised and heartened by the level "It was fantastic to have so many people coming to our stand and asking us about hydroelectricity schemes," he said.

Steve found this renewed enthusiasm for hydropower particularly encouraging because it was an effective and sustainable technology.

"Run-of--river hydropower is - when properly designed - one of the most efficient means of electricity generation, with minimal environmental impact," he explained.

The new grants should help make small-scale hydropower viable on more farms, Steve added.

"Smaller projects can struggle to become economically viable because the payback is longer than larger schemes," he said, "Economies of scale mean that the cost per kilowatt (kW) tends to fall as project size increases - although of course the total cost of a larger scheme may be higher".

Mini-hydropower has gained importance because there are very few suitable sites left for large-scale hydropower development, Steve explained.

"The government has recognised small-scale hydropower schemes (ie.

less than five megawatts output) as "the untapped resource for further hydropower generation in the UK", he said.

"A GBP25,000 grant is especially useful for the farmers who are likely to need it most, because their site has a relatively low projected output" he pointed out.

"I am currently looking at feasibility of a scheme with a projected output of 70kW, and GBP25,000 could be a substantial contribution to my client's costs".

Mini-hydropower developments are less visually intrusive than wind power installations, and can achieve 70-90% efficiency - higher than windpower, and about twice the best efficiency levels claimed for solar electricity generation.

The new grants for farmers are administered by WAG's Department for Rural Affairs as part of the new Glastir Scheme (to be introduced from 2012).

Additional support is available from disparate sources including the Carbon Trust and the Energy Saving Trust, but tracking funding down can be difficult, said Steve.

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