Western Hydro Ltd is a small to medium enterprise established in 1992
primarily to develop hydroelectric projects in the UK. The partners
in the business, Dr John Collier and Jason Goodden believe that renewable
energy must play an important part in the UK's national strategy to
reduce the consumption of fossil fuels and associated greenhouse gas
emissions in the world. It is their opinion that the market for renewable
energy in the UK is likely to increase over the next 10 to 20 years
with favourable incentives such as the Renewable Obligation Certificates
(ROCs) continuing over this period. Through a policy of reinvestment
of income, it is the directors' aim to establish a growing portfolio
of renewable energy generating projects in the UK to contribute to
the country's clean energy supply.
The company was successful in obtaining three Non Fossil Fuel Obligation
(NFFO) contracts in the late 90's for hydroelectric schemes, two of
which were in Cornwall. The first scheme to be completed was an embedded
hydroelectric scheme at Trelubbas Wartha on the River Cober with an
installed capacity of 220 kW. Based in Devon and Cornwall, Western
Hydro has concentrated its efforts in the Southwest where it is actively
engaged in the process of planning and arranging permissions for additional
hydroelectric capacity at two sites in Cornwall which it is hoped
will shortly raise its combined grid supply to over 1 megawatt of
installed capacity.
The company is involved in research
and development of technology used for its own development projects.
Successful equipment designs such as fish and trash screens can be
customised and purchase if required. Expertise held within the company
has been regularly shared with other small-scale developers and is
available through negotiable consulting contracts.
The Company has also developed a novel design for a tidal stream generator
known as the Dual Vortex Control (DVC) Turbine. A DTI SMART award
was recently given to the company to carry out a feasibility study.
This was done in conjunction with research conducted at the University
of Exeter and has proved the turbine's potential. The research is
about to enter the second phase involving further trials at the University
of Southampton together with the installation and testing of offshore
prototypes. To assist inward investment into the tidal stream research,
a separate company has been formed called Tidal Turbines Ltd which
will own all relevant intellectual property and be used to expand
the business potential of the DVC turbine design. At present, Western
Hydro owns 100% of the equity for Tidal Turbines Ltd but is actively
seeking to identify suitable and willing industrial and financial
partners to take the project forward.
