Six new projects near Manchester
The projects are located on the Manchester Ship Canal which has not otherwise been used for electricity generation.
We have an exciting opportunity to use the hydro potential of the Manchester Ship Canal, a 58 km inland waterway in the North West of England linking Manchester to the Irish Sea and built to allow commercial shipping to reach this important city. On this canal we first restored Barton Locks, a small hydro power plant installed in 1994 with an output of 720 kW. The refurbishment included turbine overhaul and replacement of the electrical control systems. The output now meets our expectations and is better than the plant achieved when it was new.
The use of canal locks built in earlier centuries repurposes these structures and enables efficient energy capture with minimal impact on the environment.
Building on our success at Barton Locks we have obtained Planning and Environmental Permits for five more projects on the Manchester Ship Canal (Eastham Locks, Howley Weir, Woolston Weir, Irlam Locks and Mode Wheel Locks). The total capacity of these plants is more than 2 000 kW and construction is scheduled to be finished by spring 2021.