Why hydropower
Hydropower is a proven renewable technology. A scheme turns the energy of moving water into electricity without burning fuel, and once built it can operate for many decades with careful maintenance. Because it has no fuel cost, it can help keep the long-term cost of generation stable.
Hydropower can also generate after dark and through the wetter seasons, which makes it a natural partner for solar power. Together they can supply a larger share of an electricity system's needs from renewable sources.
The schemes we are considering
Run-of-river schemes divert part of a river's flow through a turbine and return it downstream, with little or no water stored behind a dam. Small hydropower schemes are modest in scale and designed to suit a particular stretch of river and its surroundings. We are not proposing large storage dams.
Current stage
Our hydropower work is at the planning and assessment stage. We are not presenting an operating plant, an approved project or a construction programme. Proposals will be published with their stage and supporting information when they are sufficiently defined.
Projects and development statusWhat every site must answer
A river is shared by people, wildlife, farms and towns. Before any hydropower proposal moves forward, these questions need clear, evidence-based answers.
Resource and seasonal flow
How much water the river carries through the year, and how reliably, based on measured data rather than estimates alone.
Ecology and environmental flow
How much water must stay in the river to sustain fish, plants and the wider ecosystem, and how the scheme will protect it.
Other water users
The needs of irrigation, drinking water supplies, fishing and communities downstream, which must not be compromised.
Land, access and connection
Land arrangements, access routes and the route to a grid connection, each with its own environmental and social considerations.
Safety and resilience
Design for floods, landslides and extreme weather, and safe operation and maintenance through the whole life of the scheme.
Cost and affordability
Whether the scheme can deliver electricity at a fair, stable cost once construction, operation and maintenance are taken into account.
Talk to us about hydropower
Contact us with a technical, commercial or community question about our hydropower work.