Montgomeryshire Assembly Member and Shadow Environment Minister, Russell George, has said that Powys County Council should support the Penarth Weir Hydro Scheme in Newtown, as it is a great example of a community-led renewable energy generation project.
The scheme has been driven by Newtown 2020, a community based organisation that is working to develop a hydro generation station on the River Severn at Penarth Weir, on the outskirts of the town. It has already signed a 40-year agreement with British Waterways to lease the Weir and a recent feasibility study has shown that the project could generate up to £100k of revenue a year.
Commenting Mr George said:
“This is potentially a fantastic community-led project which could generate not only vital energy supplies for local houses and business (up to 490 MWh per year) but also a revenue stream which can be reinvested back into the community.
“People often say to me if you don’t support the plans for hundreds of wind farms and the massive amount of infrastructure being proposed for Montgomeryshire, then what do you support – well its innovative projects like this.
“I hope that Powys Cabinet Members can see the same merits of this scheme that I can and will be able to support the project with a form of loan investment so that it can be developed.”
Local Newtown Councillor, Peter Harris, has also thrown his support behind the hydro scheme.
Councillor Harris said:
“I feel that the Welsh Government in particular, have not given full consideration to the hydroelectricity capacity of Wales in the same way that the wind energy agenda has been promoted.
“They should be encouraging local authorities to invest in micro-generation projects like this which have community buy-in.”
He added:
“I think that there is potentially a huge amount of public support for small-scale renewable energy if it is publicised and promoted in the right way.
“What I really like about this project is that it demonstrates well how a community can work together to support itself.”
