News / Power from the burns
FRUIT has played a key role in the latest move to develop renewable energy in Shetland.
Community Energy Scotland (CES) has brought in an English consultant to investigate the potential for small scale hydro schemes in Shetland and the western isles.
Duncan Brewer, of Hampshire-based IT Power, has examined eight burns in Shetland to see if they could be used to generate enough electricity to make them viable.
Mr Brewer examined four sites in Northmavine, along with others in the south mainland and Fetlar and will present his report to CES next month.
He said that some of the Shetland sites had potential, but it remained to be seen whether they would prove economic, even with the new government feed in tariff for green power schemes.
Mr Brewer used mandarins to test the flow of water in various burns. “There are more complicated ways of doing this, but one of the advantages of using oranges is that they float slightly below the surface and not on top where the flow is faster, and also you can see them easily,” he said.
Hydro schemes would not be allowed to use all the water in a burn as environment watchdog SEPA insist on protecting the hydrological balance.
Community powerdown officer with Northmavine Community Development Company, Colin Dickie, said only one burn in the north mainland appeared to have the right combination of water flow and topography to make it suitable.
Mr Dickie said that when the IT Power study is complete he hopes that discussions with the council and Scottish and Southern Energy, who operated the local grid, will clear the way for a planning application to be submitted as early as June.
“We hope to have a completed design of a microhydro scheme with costings and planning permission to progress to find funding to build it,” Mr Dickie said.
The Northmavine scheme could generate up to 40 kilowatts of constant power all year round, the equivalent of a 100 kilowatt wind turbine.
Mr Dickie wants to look at the possibility of a widespread network of smaller hydro schemes to serve individual properties, which he has dubbed “nanohydro”, that could operate in the winter when extra heat is required.
“There are six or seven houses in Northmavine alone that are quite near to small burns which could have small systems installed,” he said.
“This could offer a healthy alternative to wind, which is continuing to cause problems both in the manufacture of turbines and in grid connections. Hydro power has been used for hundreds of years and it’s very reliable”
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