Callander Hydro Project
Background
Turning water into cash - sounds too good to be true - with all the rain we get, Callander certainly has an abundant supply of water as a natural resource and it seems a shame to waste it.
The Hydro project developed from informal discussions within Callander Enterprise about the cost of electricity for local businesses and about how, as Callander is never short of water, this should be seen as an advantage rather than the opposite. It could become an asset for the entire community.
The purpose of the scheme is to generate hydro electric energy and put it into the grid, selling it to an electricity supplier to generate income for Callander which will then be allocated by the CCDT for the community in Callander. In time Callander will be able to fund our own developments and no longer need to be reliant on funding from public bodies. At current day values, it might achieve revenue of around £3.5m over the next 40 years.
Preliminary investigations were carried out with the help of Glasgow Caledonian University who produced a small study on how a hydro project could be set up and run, and how energy produced could be sold, creating income for the community.
Then the Climate Challenge Fund gave a grant for a feasibility study to be undertaken locally with the contract being awarded to MNV Consulting Ltd (formerly known as Mountain Environments Ltd). The study identified and assessed potential sites, and provided a development plan, costings, time-scales and recommendations on 3 preferred sites.
The hydro scheme we are planning is situated in Stank Glen on Forestry Commission land - it's a run of river scheme where water will be diverted from Stank Burn into an intake, flow down a buried pipeline into a turbine house, used to generate electricity and then returned to the stream much lower down. One of the most asked questions from the Callander Footprint Festival day was where will the reservoir be, but in schemes like these there isn't one, so it will be pretty much hidden once the land is replanted.
Next steps
As you would expect, there are many regulations about the amount of water we can take out of the stream, safeguards for local wildlife and to preserve the natural beauty of the area, so we are currently working with the National Park Planning, SEPA, Scottish Natural Heritage and the Forestry Commission to understand the studies we need as part of our planning application e.g. environmental studies and bat and otter surveys. Community Energy Scotland are providing us with great support and advice and have also given us some start up funding.
We have commissioned a grid survey to provide costs for the grid connection and we have negotiated an exclusivity agreement with the Forestry Commission whilst we monitor the water flows and put together a proposal to buy or lease the land. The next stage is to tender for a detailed design study which will lead to our planning application and if approved the construction phase. We are currently putting a bid together to the Big Lottery Fund to enable us to do this - it's a slow part of the process but we will try and keep you updated as we go along. If all goes well we are hoping to start the construction phase in 2012 and start generating electricity in 2013.
Public Support
It's going to take some time before we know if we have a viable project and public support is crucial to its success.
The steps above were outlined at a well-attended public meeting on 13th January 2010 where unanimous support was given to proceed with the project and some volunteers were recruited to join the team under the chairmanship of Frank Park. The project is also supported by the Callander and Climate Change project whose work complements the Hydro project.
Questions from the meeting
1. What is the time scale for payback of funds?
Answer : two possibilities were given as examples
a) Within the first 1-8 years no income to the community whilst loans are repaid, following that income is generated for Callander community use for possibly 30-40 years.
b) Finance is structured to take some income sooner and spread the payback period over more than 8 years.
2. Who owns the project?
Answer: Callander Community Trust
3. Will landowners make any profit?
Answer: To be negotiated
Keeping you informed
We will use this site and the Ben Ledi View to keep you updated on our progress, but if you have any specific questions then please email us at the .
Last updated 21/08/2010