Entec identifies potential hydropower hotspots

10 March 2010, 9:08am

Entec, on behalf of the Environment Agency, has completed a report to identify where hydropower could be deployed in England and Wales to help tap into the unused power potential of British rivers.

This is the first stage of a project that will ultimately allow the Environment Agency to develop a more strategic approach to the deployment of small-scale hydropower in England and Wales that maximises energy generation whilst ensuring the natural environment is protected and enhanced.

Entec mapped opportunities for hydropower alongside the environmental sensitivity associated with exploiting these opportunities to give a national overview. The report identified over 25,000 barriers in England and Wales (the term barriers describes sites with sufficient drop to provide a hydropower opportunity) and estimated the height of the barrier, the flow available, the maximum power potential and the environmental sensitivity. Most of the barriers identified and assessed in the study are weirs, but also included are other anthropogenic structures, or natural features such as waterfalls.

The key findings include:

The estimated average maximum power generation capacity on a barrier is 45kW, with a total potential capacity of nearly 1200MW, which could provide a maximum of about 1% of the UK’s projected electricity and 3% of the renewable electricity demand in 2020. In reality, the practical potential will be a fraction of this due to practical and environmental constraints.
The opportunity maps show clear clustering of opportunities in the upland areas of England and Wales as expected, but all regions have considerable potential.
46% of the barriers identified were classified as high sensitivity, principally as a result of the probability of salmon and eel presence. However, well-designed schemes can mitigate impacts and can even improve the environment if they provide better passage for migratory and other fish.
Hydropower hotspots, where win-win opportunities exist on the same river or close by are particularly concentrated on rivers such as the Severn, Thames, Aire and Neath.

Entec’s report, and the associated information, has been used to develop an interactive map which is available to view on the Environment Agency website. The map shows the number of hydropower opportunities in each region, as well as the total power potential and the environmental sensitivities to be considered.

Entec’s Neil Webster commented: “This was an exciting, interesting and challenging project, which required a lot of work to produce the output figures. The outputs have enhanced the Environment Agency’s view of the hydropower potential in England and Wales, and we look forward to working with them on future phases of the project.”

www.entecuk.com

The full report Opportunity and environmental sensitivity mapping in England and Wales and the interactive hydropower maps are available to download - click here

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