Sheffield Renewables | Community Action for our Energy Future

Planning Permission Granted for Kelham Island Water Wheel

Jan 172012

Artist's Impression of Kelham Island Hydro

Sheffield’s Kelham Island Hydro project was granted planning permission yesterday. The scheme has been developed by Sheffield Renewables [1] with support from Regeneration Officers at Sheffield City Council and Kelham Island Museum, part of Sheffield Industrial Museums Trust. Gaining planning permission is the first milestone towards installing a new water wheel near Kelham Island Museum.

Rob Pilling, Managing Director at Sheffield Renewables said “The Kelham Island Hydro scheme will bring an iconic renewable energy scheme to this popular site in the heart of the city. The project is driven by local volunteers, inspiring members of the community to contribute their time and work together. Gaining planning permission is a huge boost to our efforts and we are hopeful that we could see a water wheel return to Kelham Island by 2014″.

The Kelham Island Hydro scheme comprises a ‘modern’ water wheel to be located in an existing wheel pit and channel system that was used for water power as far back as the Middle Ages. The replacement wheel will be designed for a flow of 2 tonnes of water per second, generating around 75,000kWh of electricity per year. This is the amount of electricity consumed by about 20 typical family homes [2], providing a saving of around 40 tonnes of carbon dioxide per year [3]. Alongside generating clean energy, it will be an inspiring attraction, reviving part of Sheffield’s industrial heritage to stimulate interest in renewable energy.

Initially there were some concerns about the plans, expressed by people living nearby, including the design of the protective structure surrounding the wheel. As a community and volunteer led social enterprise, Sheffield Renewables relies upon and values the support of local Sheffield people. They responded to comments by re-designing the protective structure to reduce its height, ensure that its appearance is in keeping with the local area and encourage people to view the wheel as an attractive feature. Gaining planning permission shows that Sheffield City Council and the Environment Agency are happy this and other issues have been satisfactorily addressed.

Sheffield Renewables can now continue to obtain the other permissions and licenses needed to develop Kelham Island Hydro. They gained planning permission for the Jordan Dam Hydro scheme [4], a second water power project near Meadowhall, in March 2011. Jordan Dam Hydro is more advanced, with a Community Share Offer [5] expected later this year. The Community Share Offer will give people and organisations the opportunity to contribute to the half a million pound building costs. Together the two projects highlight the potential for community led renewable energy generation in Sheffield.

Ends

Media Contact Details

Cariad Thomas-Cooke, Project Officer

07951 741 382

Cariad@SheffieldRenewables.org.uk

Editors Notes

[1] Sheffield Renewables is a community and a social enterprise that develops, funds, builds, owns and operates renewable energy schemes. This means that we are run by and for local people and also that we are not-for-proffit. Any surplus money generated is re-invested to support local sustainability. Much of our work is carried out by volunteers, which helps to reduce our costs.

Our schemes will contribute to sity wide efforts to meet targets for reducing greenhouse gas emissions and for increasing local renewable energy provision. We reinforce these direct carbon savings through local outreach, communications and education. Our work also helps to strengthen social cohesion and community resilience by encouraging people to work together and to share a common purpose,as well asby developing community owned assets. In pursuing our aims we work across the city for the benefit of everyone, while giving an additional focus to those areas close to our project sites.

[2] This is based on an average UK household electricity consumption of 3,935kWh per household per year. Provided by the Energy Saving Trust (see their website).

[3] Based on a carbon dioxide emission rate of 0.537kg CO2/kWh of grid generated electricity from The Carbon Trust (see their website).

[4] Jordan Dam Hydro Scheme: Sheffield Renewables’ initial assessment suggests that the scheme might cost around £450,000 to build and could generate around 380MWh/year. Sourcing this much electricity from hydroelectic generation rather than the national grid would save about 200 tonnes of carbon dioxide per year. Further information about our ongoing development work at Jordan Dam can be found in the Jordan Dam Hydro project section of our website.

[5] Sheffield Renewables is offering ‘Community Shares’ as a social investment for public spirited and environmentally aware individuals and organisations. The aim is to provide an attractive ethical investment opportunity: investors receive a modest return, complimented by wider social and environmental benefits. The ‘Community Shares’ concept has been developed through a joint initiative of the Development Trusts Association (now Locality) and Co-operatives UK (see their website).

Local Impact on a Global Scale – Employment

Other Sheffield Renewables News No Responses »

Jan 042012

Now that 2012 has begun we’d like to wish you a Happy New ‘International Year of Co-operatives’. Movements such as the global Occupy and national UKUNCUT highlight an increasing interest in ways of doing business that put people before profit. So it’s perfect timing for the United Nations to have declared 2012 International Year of Co-operatives. Throughout the year we will be publishing blog articles on the different ways co-operatives, such as ourselves, help to build a better world.

Sheffield Renewables is all about co-operation, with our progress dependent on our volunteers contributing their time and skills, investors contributing cash and supporters keeping us going, e.g. voting for us in the EnergyShare national funding competition. Alongside our volunteers, our two part-time employees also play an important part in our work.

The co-operative movement as a whole is a significant part of the big picture. Globally co-operatives employ over 100 million people, and in 1994 the UN estimated that co-operatives make the livelihoods of 3 billion people secure.

We want to enable volunteers to contribute as much as possible towards our activities but hope that we can continue to support this with co-operative Green Jobs.

More information on the International Year of Co-operatives is available on their website.

Powerstation Sheffield Begins

Other Sheffield Renewables News, Support, Volunteer No Responses »

Jun 142011

Preview of Renewable Trumps game before branding and further development commence

Sheffield Renewables has received funding from the organisation Artists Project Earth (APE) to develop a new project called Powerstation Sheffield. The project aims to encourage low carbon lifestyles and the development of local renewable energy schemes within the city, in a way that is accessible and relevant to everyone.

A key objective of the project is to help foster a greater level of public understanding of renewable energy and to generate a significant amount of local interest in this field. The intention is to engage the public in a fun and interesting way, through the development of interactive tools, posters and games. Our current focus is the creation of a Renewable Trumps card game comparing renewable energy schemes across Sheffield. This will be available for people to play with both as a hard copy at our events stall and online through our website.

Whilst climate change is a global issue, Powerstation Sheffield aims to illustrate the significance of local community action and empowerment in fighting this. Through continually gathering data on renewable energy as it’s installed across the city, the intention is to build a clear picture of how schemes in the city are contributing to carbon dioxide reduction.

The information people contribute will be broken down to different levels, making the renewable energy generation figures relevant to local communities. In this way people will be able to see that every scheme makes a valuable contribution to reducing energy consumption in our neighbourhoods, no matter how small. The data can also be used to rank the performance of different neighbourhoods within Sheffield against each other.

Thanks to APE’s funding, Powerstation Sheffield aims to launch online in September so keep an eye out for the outcome of several exciting developments over the coming months.

For more information on Artists Project Earth, please check out their website.

by Matt H (Powerstation Sheffield Developer)

Community contributes over £65,000 to Don Water Power

Invest, Jordon Dam Hydro, Press Releases No Responses »

Oct 172011

Artist's impression of our Jordan Dam hydro power scheme.

Hydro-electric power from the River Don in Sheffield came a step closer this week with the announcement of over £65,000 raised by Sheffield Renewables [1] from a Community Share Offer [2]. The share offer was open to those who had already expressed an interest in their hydro scheme at Jordan Dam and contributes towards the £250,000 target for community investment to build the scheme.

A further Community Share Offer will be launched to the public this winter, enabling all individuals, organisation and businesses interested in local, ethical and sustainable investing to contribute the remaining £185,000. The £65,000 also adds 55 new members to Sheffield Renewables, which is registered as a Community Benefit Society, a form of Co-operative Social Enterprise. This will be Sheffield’s second large Community Share Offer following on from the Portland Works[3] share offer launched earlier in the year.

The Jordan Dam scheme is expected to be the largest community hydro scheme in the UK to date. Once operating, Jordan Dam Hydro will generate as much energy as used by 80 typical family homes (310,000 kWh per year) [4] and save 170 tonnes of carbon dioxide per year [5].

Rob Pilling, Managing Director of Sheffield Renewables, said “The aim of the share offer was both to raise funds and to attract new members. Surpassing £65,000 was beyond our expectation at this stage, which gives added confidence in the fundraising potential of the scheme and our offer. To see so many new members involved is equally encouraging. It shows their enthusiasm and support for the project and provides vital momentum as we move to towards our public share offer this winter.”

It is anticipated that grant funding will be part of the funding mix for this half million pound project. Sheffield Renewables won through the first round of energyshare’s [6] national community renewable energy funding competition, made possible by River Cottage and British Gas. The more supporters we get registered on the website, the greater our chance of getting into the ‘Top 10′ projects that will go to a public vote to decide who gets the cash they need.

The remaining funding will come from other grant applications and loans.

ENDS

Notes to editors:

[1] Sheffield Renewables is a community and a social enterprise that develops, funds, builds, owns and operates renewable energy schemes. This means that we are run by and for local people and also that we are not-for-profit. Surplus money we earn is re-invested to support local sustainability. Much of our work is carried out by volunteers, which helps to reduce our costs.

Our schemes will contribute to city wide efforts to meet targets for reducing greenhouse gas emissions and for increasing local renewable energy provision. We reinforce these direct carbon savings through local outreach, communications and education. Our work also helps to strengthen social cohesion and community resilience by encouraging people to work together and share a common purpose, as well as by developing community owned assets. In pursuing our aims we work across the city for the benefit of everyone, while giving an additional focus to those areas close to our project sites.

[2] Sheffield Renewables is offering ‘Community Shares’ as a social investment for public spirited and environmentally aware individuals and organisations. The aim is to provide an attractive ethical investment opportunity: investors receive a modest return, complemented by wider social and environmental benefits. The ‘Community Shares’ concept has been developed through a joint initiative of the Development Trusts Association (now Locality) and Co-operatives UK (see their website)

[3] More information on Portland works and their share offer can be found on their website.

[4] This is based on an average UK household electricity consumption of 3,935kWh per household per year. Provided by the Energy Saving Trust (see their website)

[5] Based on a carbon dioxide emission rate of 0.537kg CO2/kWh of grid generated electricity from The Carbon Trust (see their website)

[6] Energyshare is an initiative by the organisers of River Cottage, Hugh’s Fish Fight, Chicken Out and Landshare. It acknowledges the impact that energy has on everyone’s lives and changing UK attitudes towards energy. They hope to help something really big happen by bringing together people, communities, organisations and the media. This is done through an online community, funding competition and electricity tariff from British Gas (see their website)

Model Making group

General, Volunteer No Responses »

Feb 132012

We had a very successful model-making session on Sunday, February 12th. Eight volunteers gave up their Sunday afternoon to start to make modifications to the renewable energy models that we will be taking to the festivals this summer.

More work will be done on the Archimedes screw, the small wind turbine and the bike generator at our next session on Sunday, March11th.

February 2012 Newsletter

Support No Responses »

Feb 082012

The February 2012 Newsletter can be downloaded here.

We hope you enjoy reading it and post any public comments in the space provided below.

Energy Share Outcome

Invest, Jordon Dam Hydro, Support, Volunteer No Responses »

Dec 072011

A BIG thank you to all those who voted for us in the EnergyShare funding competition. However, at 5pm on Saturday, in spite of all your help, we came SECOND. This was a very creditable result and we learned a lot from the exercise. Unfortunately there was no prize for second place.

We were very encouraged that over 3,000 people took the time to help us – many more than we had hoped for - and pleased that there is so much support for community owned renewable energy in Sheffield. This should add more weight to our applications for alternative grant funding that we will be actively pursuing. Hopefully it will also mean more people might be interested in helping when we launch our Community Public Share Offer in the spring.

We will ensure that we keep all our EnergyShare supporters informed of our progress over the coming months. They will be relieved to know that this will only be a bi-monthly newsletter, rather than the barrage of messages they have received recently.

Many thanks to all of you who put in time to help us increase our vote. There are too many of you to name you all, but you know who you are and we are most grateful. However, I must add a special thank you to Cariad, our Project Officer, who made EnergyShare her life for a few weeks, working tirelessly above and beyond the call of duty.