Ruswarp Hydro or Whitby Esk Energy, is a Hydroelectric generation scheme that operates on the
River Esk at
Ruswarp
Ruswarp village lies within the Scarborough borough of North Yorkshire, England. It is around from Whitby, at the junction of the B1410 and B1416 roads, on the River Esk and the Esk Valley Line, with trains stopping at Ruswarp railway s ...
,
North Yorkshire
North Yorkshire is the largest ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county (lieutenancy area) in England, covering an area of . Around 40% of the county is covered by National parks of the United Kingdom, national parks, including most of ...
, England. The project uses an
Archimedes Screw
The Archimedes screw, also known as the Archimedean screw, hydrodynamic screw, water screw or Egyptian screw, is one of the earliest hydraulic machines. Using Archimedes screws as water pumps (Archimedes screw pump (ASP) or screw pump) dates back ...
in a reverse direction to generate electricity and was funded by people in the community. Around of water pass along the screw per second, which generates enough electricity to power 45–48 homes.
History
Esk Energy (Yorkshire) was formed as an
industrial and provident society
An industrial and provident society (IPS) is a body corporate registered for carrying on any industries, businesses, or trades specified in or authorised by its rules.
The members of a society benefit from the protection of limited liability ...
in 2008 to explore the idea behind a green energy scheme in
Eskdale. Initially, windpower was researched but it was decided that a wind turbine would be visually intrusive in the
North York Moors National Park
North is one of the four compass points or cardinal directions. It is the opposite of south and is perpendicular to east and west. ''North'' is a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating direction or geography.
Etymology
The word ''north'' is ...
. After a river survey and an approval was made by the
Environment Agency, the collective pressed ahead with the hydro scheme.
Provisional planning for the scheme was given the go-ahead in October 2009 and a co-operative was formed to raise the capital needed for the project. The money raising culminated in a share option to raise extra funding of the £450,000 that was required for the scheme.
With the funding secured, construction started in May 2012 with the plant being commissioned into service on 12 December 2012.
The Archimedes Screw that was built for the scheme arrived on site in September 2012 and was installed by October of the same year. The screw is wide, long and will allow a maximum of water to pass through a second. The screw is wide enough to allow fish to move through downstream without coming to harm. At the same time that the project was being built, the North Yorks Moors Park Authority re-built the fishpass adjacent to the turbine.
The screw generates up 160,000 Kilo-watt hours per year which is enough electricity to power 45–48 homes, and reduces carbon emissions by up to per year.
Even though the National Park Authority was satisfied that the development would have no detriment to the ecology or hydrology to the river, some in the community were upset that they were not fully informed as to the prospect and possible ramifications of the hydro scheme. Parts of the local community were unaware that when the river was in low flow, the water would not go through the screw, but go over the weir or through the fish pass as normal, as they claim, this had not been communicated to them.
References
External links
Diagrammatic side on cutaway of the screw and generating house
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ruswarp Hydro
Hydroelectric power stations in England
Power stations in Yorkshire and the Humber
Buildings and structures in North Yorkshire
Hydroelectric power stations in Yorkshire and the Humber