No finance to build Windsor screw turbines in UK

No finance to build Windsor screw turbines in UK

A British-based entrepreneur, who has just tied up a deal with the Queen to provide hydroelectric “green” energy to Windsor Castle, cannot find a bank willing to lend the money to build the necessary turbines in the UK. David Dechambeau, who runs Southeast Power Engineering, has been forced to bring in screw turbines from the Netherlands to be placed in the river Thames at Romney Weir. The turbines cost £700,000 and weigh 40 tonnes.   “I have got a local company that would be willing to build the turbines,but   we are finding it difficult to find the financial support needed to build this Archimedes-type pump for the first time,” said Dechambeau. Southeast Power Engineering is talking to the Duke of Devonshire about using a similar scheme to turn water from the river Derwent into electricity for another of Britain’s historic houses, Chatsworth in Derbyshire. The house still has original turbines in the basement that date back to 1884 but Dechambeau hopes to bring in a new system that would reintroduce carbon neutral power. The engineering boss has a series of similar schemes in development on the Thames and Avon rivers that would allow homes and businesses to move away from a reliance on gas or coal-fired electricity. The inability to find funding will strike a chord with critics of the government who have complained that the plan to set up a green investment bank is taking too long, and that partly state-owned lenders such as Royal Bank of Scotland are still concentrating on oil and gas rather than on green schemes. It has taken Southeast Power four years to win permission from the Environment Agency to agree to lease part of the riverside land and waters to a private company. Strenuous reviews have taken place to ensure the project at Romney would not adversely affect navigation, flood control or wildlife. Environmental group Friends of the Earth praised the company and the Queen for leading the way with the river schemes. “This is exciting news – we urgently need to develop clean and safe energy to tackle climate change and build a greener economy and it’s great that the royal family is showing leadership in doing so,” said the group’s director of policy and campaigns, Craig Bennett. “It’s not just the royals who can take advantage of the UK’s huge potential for renewable energy on and off shore – from our wind and sun to our waves and river weirs. The government should get on with the job of greening all of our energy supplies and ensure communities are properly supported to produce their own clean power.”   No finance to build Windsor screw turbines in UK    http://www.archimedeshydroscrew.com/windsor-hydro-archimedes-screw-turbines/ http://www.archimedeshydroscrew.com/archimedes-hydro-screw-industry-gets-a-mu... http://www.archimedeshydroscrew.com/archimedes-screw-pumps-turbines-and-gener... http://www.archimedeshydroscrew.com

Hydropower: Royally screwed on the River Thames

More and more homeowners these days consider installing solar, wind or geothermal gear to cut electricity bills. But if your house is

Windsor Castle, you can draw hydropower from the nearby River Thames.

 

The Queen of England this week accepted delivery of two turbines that she’ll plop down in the Thames in order to generate electricity for her royal residence at Windsor, west of London.

 

What is notable is her choice of hydro technology.

The Queen has turned to a piece of antiquity, the Archimedes’ screw.

 

As it says on the label, the device is shaped like a screw – a big screw. Each weighs 40 tons and measures 12 meters (39 feet) long and 4 meters (13 feet) in diameter, according to the Daily Mail.

The Greek philosopher and engineer Archimedes invented the contraption(pictured, right) as a way to haul water up slopes into irrigation ditches. The water would travel up in the spinning threads as someone turned the device by a handle.

The Queen has turned to a piece of antiquity, the Archimedes’ screw.

 

 

The Windsor project turns the idea upside down. A giant screw slopes downward in a weir. It spins as water plunges along its threads, turning gears that drive a turbine.

Archimedes turbines have caught on in other installations in the UK,

Holland and elsewhere (that’s a Dutch example pictured below).

 

Proponents say they are simpler and cheaper than other forms of hydropower, and less prone to breaking down. They also claim that they are more environmentally friendly because they are less likely to mangle fish.

 

Friends of the Earth approved of the Windsor project, which is a partnership between Southeast Power Engineering Ltd. and the UK’s Environment Agency.

 

“We urgently need to develop clean and safe energy to tackle climate change and build a greener economy and it’s great that the Royal family is showing leadership in doing so,”

FOE director of policy and campaigns Craig Bennett said in a press release. “Obviously schemes should be carefully located to avoid any negative environmental impacts – and in this case the Environment Agency says there’ll be no adverse effects on wildlife, navigation or flood control.”

 

If all goes as planned, the two screws will start providing a dose of electricity to Windsor in November, and could supply all of the castle’s power by next year.

The Royals could also sell excess electricity to the grid.

 

The turbines are expected to produce 1.7 million kilowatt hours per year, and cut CO2 emissions by 790,000 kilograms annually.

 

Keeping up international relations, the screws come from Holland, at a cost of £700,000, according to the Mail. Installation adds another £1 million to the bill, the paper says.

 

It’s been an eco friendly week for the Royals as Prince Charles became president of the World Wildlife Fund’s UK branch a few days ago.

 

Maybe the reigning monarch deserves the new title that the Mail bestowed her: The Green Queen.

 

Hydropower: Royally screwed on the River Thames

http://www.archimedeshydroscrew.com/hydropower-royally-screwed-on-river-thames/

http://www.archimedeshydroscrew.com/archimedes-screw-pumps-turbines-and-generators-gets-royal-approval/
http://www.archimedeshydroscrew.com

 

Hydrodynamic Screw Generator

Hydrodynamic Screw Generator

Screw Generators (Hydrodynamic screws) for Hydro Power generation schemes use an Archimedes Screw pump in the reverse. The water is not pumped up but water is released down the

Screw which acts as a turbine, extracting hydro energy from the falling water

 

The image above comprises of two Hydrodynamic Screw Generators, each being a Compact style screw.

 

This Hydro-dynamic screw generators are installed in series

with 2678 l/s flowing sequentially through the two screws over a total fall of around 10 meters, approximately 180 kW is generated (90 kW per screw generator).

 

Hydrodynamic Screw Generators or Screw Generators are used to generate electricity from the discharge flows from Sewage Treatment plants in UK and, the electricity generated can be transferred back into the mains grid.

Table of Hydro Power Feed-In Tariff levels for the year to 31st March 2012

This includes adjustments from the Fast-Track Review on 1st Aug 2011.

Complete listing of all

Hydro Energy Generation Tariff levels up to March 2012

Energy Source	Scale	Tariff (p/kWh)	Duration (years)
Hydro	≤15 kW	20.9	20
Hydro	>15 – 100kW	18.7	20
Hydro	>100kW – 2MW	11.5	20
Hydro	>2MW – 5MW	4.7	20

Hydro-dynamic Screw generators offer all the usual benefits associated with screw pumpsincluding

• No complicated control system – the screw matches itself automatically to the supply frequency and the water supply.
• High efficiency is greater than comparable waterwheels and small turbines with flat stable curve.
• Minimum maintenance due to just 4 main components
• Robust, long wearing and trouble free parts and components.
• No fine screens needed with little or No cleaning required
• Highly friendly to fish acting as a fish pass.
• Minimal civil engineering needed in comparison to turbines.

In the modern climate where alternative “green” energy is very much in demand the

Hydrodynamic screw generator offers a simple reliable

 

and proven means of harnessing the

renewable hydro energy from the flowing, or falling water of low head hydro site