Isra-Mart srl:Taff hydropower promises windfall for Cardiff Council

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Isra-Mart srl news:

Cardiff Council is hoping to harness the power of the famous River Taff in a bid to cut carbon emissions and earn money through the government's Feed-in-Tariff (FiT) incentive scheme.

Councillors from the Executive Office will meet today to decide whether to fund a project that will see two Archimedean Screw turbines deployed in the Radyr Weir, potentially saving 783 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions and yielding 1.82MWh of energy for the city each year – the equivalent to the annual energy consumption of three of Cardiff's leisure centres.

A council spokesman told BusinessGreen officials are likely to approve the recommended plan later today, after which they would issue a tender notice for installation of the two "fish-friendly" hydropower devices.

If the council chooses to act as sole developer and operator of the scheme, it would be able to reap an income through the FiT scheme after the government recently axed rules blocking councils from selling energy to the grid.

The council said it now plans to investigate the hydroelectric potential of every river in the city, as well as exploring options for other forms of renewable generation.

"This opens up a range of opportunities – hydropower, wind generation, photovoltaic cells and so on – which will need to be more fully assessed in due course," it said in a statement.

The council will need to gain planning permission to progress with the scheme, but it said initial discussion with the Environment Agency had been mostly positive.

The council decided to investigate the hydropower potential of the site with the Carbon Trust, after it received an enquiry from an unnamed hydropower firm a year ago. However, the council is expecting several firms to bid for the project in a competitive tender process.