Until the end of February our focus was on spending the balance of the £300,000 European/Defra grant before the expiry date. With Christmas and New Year in the middle it proved to be quite a challenge – but we made it with the assistance of some very helpful members of the Defra team. These funds reimburse expenditure on environmental aspects of the build (e.g. detailed design, the natural stone clad retaining wall, fish pass ancillary items, deposits on fish screens, penstocks, and civil works).
Category: News
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A new digger on site
A new digger has been brought on site to continue excavation through the rock for the fish screen bay, building basement and outfall.
Site work has involved excavation of the old mill race (or leat). Bill Hosfield (a local historian) told us it was filled with high quality stone from local quarries circa 1976. Indeed it was. So the riverside track has been upgraded and we have a large stockpile ready to use as backfill on completion of the build – much cheaper than buying stone in.
Remember it’s a building site and not safe unless you’ve had a site induction, so please keep out. Our apologies for the disruption with the closure of the wooden steps
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Share Certificates issued to first investors
Everyone who invested more than £500 and who indicated that they wished to qualify for Seed Enterprise Investment Scheme (SEIS) tax relief because they participated in the first £150,000 of investment raised should now have received their share certificates. We now have to spend at least 70% of that money before we can issue any more certificates. We expect to achieve this by placing a deposit on the turbine and paying other expenses incurred in the next couple of weeks.
The 50% tax relief on the capital invested can be claimed for either the current, or the previous tax year. However, we can’t apply to be registered for SEIS until we have spent 70% 0f the amount raised. We will notify eligible investors, who have up to five years to claim the relief, when we are registered. Full details of the SEIS scheme are available here.
All other investors who buy shares for more than £500 are eligible to receive EIS tax relief on 30% of their capital in the tax year they make the investment. Details are available here.
[box type=”warning” ]Various conditions have to be met by the company and by investors so tax relief should not be relied on until both the company and individual applicatiions for SEIS and EIS are approved.[/box]
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The turbine has been ordered
John and Alan visited the Czech Republic recently to look at the turbines manufactured by Hydrohrom. Unfortunately Gilkes of Kendal no longer manufacture turbines for low head hydro schemes so we were forced to look abroad. Hydrohrom has an impressive track record of low head hydro throughout Europe, and after all the Kaplin turbine was invented at the Czech Technical University in Brno. They came in with a much lower price than anyone else – mostly due to the lower, country specific, manufacturing costs and the fact that virtually all the components are made in-house rather than bought in. John and Alan came back very impressed with the company, the quality of their factory, personnel and products, and we have now placed an order for our turbine, which has a ten month delivery schedule.
The company have currently got seven turbines in production, so we have seen turbines and installations very similar to ours. Our installation will have provision for two turbines in quite a large “basement” below a small stone cottage that houses electrical equipment above ground
We have also confirmed a price for the second turbine that we plan to install 12 months after the first becomes operational. It will cost £295,000 including extra electrical, project management, and 10% reserve, which is significantly less than we anticipated.
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Environmental works funded by Defra
The new retaining wall is now complete, the bank has been infilled, and woodland fencing has been replaced. The work has been completed using Halton Carbon Positive’s Rural Climate Challenge Fund grant from Defra. The funding is for environmental works. Excavation to accommodate the fish pass and fish screens, as well as the basement for the turbines, commences next week.
We are on course to spend the full amount of the grant before the deadline at the end of February. This is a fantastic achievement by all concerned, given that work was delayed by a combination of the very wet weather and the late issuing of the final licences and approvals. The new steps look great but unfortunately the footpath will remain diverted until most of the construction work is finished. -
Progress with wall building
The retaining wall that will stop further erosion of the bank every time the river floods is progressing well, and already looks as though it has always been there it blends in so well.
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Construction has started today
Workers are on site today, starting to build the retaining wall that will stop the flooding river undercutting the bank. This is part of the work funded by our Defra grant for environmental improvements, that also include building a fish pass and adding fish screens.
Alan our construction engineer has been wading out into the river finishing his measurements for the outflow of the hydro.
