UPWEY HYDRO POWER Dorset

Upwey Mill is a small hydro project in Dorset. Owner Richard Willett tells the tale of the project.

It all began with a Christmas present in 1998 - a book on Hydro Electric Power. From then on the project slowly formulated and then became reality over a period of years.

The design had to be worked out and drawn up and pondered over, the type of turbine to use and the costings.

Then there were the permissions, applications to both the Local Council and the Environment Agency which, thankfully, went fairly smoothly.

Work commenced in August 2006 with clearing the site and in September digging for the 4.5 meter (15ft.) deep turbine pit started. Needless to say not everything went according to plan and there were many hold ups along the way.

All this took many months and they were not ready for the large excavator until August 2007. In building the turbine pit which is 15 feet deep - 72 tons of concrete were used - 43 tons of which were delivered as ready mix - and 29 tons were mixed on site and Susan has the muscles to prove it.

Down in the turbine pit the green turbine can be seen, this generates the energy from the water which is delivered by a pipe from the Mill Race at the back of the Mill. Sitting on top of the turbine is the black alternator which generates the electricity.

In the workshop is the control equipment which regulates the water in the turbine and connects the electricity either to Richard and Susan's house or to Green Energy UK customer's via the National Grid. The bulk of the work is done and Upwey Mill is producing electricity feeding approximately 45 MWh per year into the National Grid.