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The recent high media profile of our £1m share offer has led to a very large number of enquires about purchasing shares. Because of this, we are extending the deadline for subscribing to the River Bain hydro share offer to 5pm on 7th July 2010. More information will be issued later about the Stockport hydro share offer. PRESS RELEASE 5 July 2010 FINAL CHANCE FOR HYDRO SHARES Directors of River Bain Hydro will be keeping an eye out for the postman in Bainbridge this week. Director Yvonne Peacock explains: “It’s the last chance for people to buy shares in River Bain Hydro and send their cheques in. I’ve already warned our postman Eric, so that he can prepare himself for a bigger mailbag. We’ve agreed that if people express an interest in buying shares on our website by the 5pm deadline on 7 July that we’ll still be able to receive their cheques after that date. Previous share offers have seen a real surge right on the final deadline and we’re hoping River Bain Hydro will be no exception.” Anyone wanting to support the community-owned hydro scheme can register their interest at www.h2ope.co.uk and download a prospectus. Cheques can then be received after the 7 July deadline. Steve Welsh, MD of H2oPE, the social enterprise who are working with River Bain Hydro to develop the scheme said: “This scheme can be a ‘win-win’ for everyone involved. For as little as £250, you can invest in a hydro electricity scheme and become one of its owners. As well as seeing the social and community benefits, you get a financial return over the lifetime of the project and you might be entitled to a tax break too. We can only hope that there are enough like-minded people in Yorkshire and beyond who support renewable energy and are prepared to back the scheme. We’re going to have an exciting few days when the final cheques come in and we can see the total sum raised. It’d be a real coup for Bainbridge having the Yorkshire Dales National Park’s first community-owned hydro.” Shares cost £1 each with a minimum shareholding of £250. River Bain Hydro will be an Industrial and Provident Society for the Benefit of the Community and will be run on a one-member-one-vote basis, regardless of the size of shareholding. Specifically set up for the purpose of generating hydro electricity, the River Bain Hydro Ltd plans to install a 45kW plant which will generate enough electricity to power the equivalent of 40 houses and save around 80 tonnes of carbon dioxide per year, or 3,000 tonnes over an expected lifetime of 40 years. The share offer closes at 5pm on 7 July and the prospectus can be downloaded at www.h2ope.co.uk. Further information about the project can be found on the h2ope website www.h2ope or you can telephone Yvonne Peacock on 01969 650409. -ends-
Press contact: Clare Walker, 01609 883011/07595 873221 or email
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Note to Editors:
1. H2oPE is a Community Interest Company - a social enterprise - limited by shares. It was founded in February 07 by Steve Welsh, MD and Helen Walker, Operations Director. As a social enterprise, H2oPE’s aim is to set up small-scale hydropower projects that benefit both the environment and local communities. 2. The initial feasibility study for this project was supported by the Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority’s Sustainable Development Fund, which is managed by the Yorkshire Dales Millennium Trust. 3. H2oPE is supported by the Co-operative Group, the Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust and Key Fund Yorkshire. 4. H2oPE are joint winners, with the Co-operative Group, of the Renewables Innovation Award at the NEMEX Environment and Energy Awards 2009.
We’re a social enterprise - a community interest company. We set up in February 07 with a mission of setting up small-scale hydro plants and reducing carbon emissions. Our aim is to reduce 6,500 tonnes of carbon emissions each year by 2015, though installing 5MW of small-scale reverse Archimedean screw hydroelectric schemes. We’re proud to be tackling climate change and engaging with and supporting local communities. And we’re here for the long term. We encourage and support communities to take a share in what we’re doing. We’re social developers – not private developers - and proud of it. We’ll bring social investment to a community, co-share its natural resource of water, and help that community to get a share in an income stream that will last for decades. Who invests in us? There’s a new and growing sector of private and corporate investors called ‘Social Investors’. They have a conscience. They invest for ethical purposes and are willing to accept a lower financial return in exchange for their part in helping to tackle climate change by reducing carbon emissions. We find viable river weirs. We engage the local community. We get planning permission, the agreement of the Environment Agency, a lease from the landowner. We get the finance and help the local community organise itself into an Industrial and Provident Society. We organise the construction and maintenance of the sites. We major in the use of the Archimedean Screw. It’s been used for thousands of years to pump water uphill and into fields for irrigation. Ritz Atro, a German company, has been been making Archimedean Screws for use as pumps for over 40 years. Some years ago, however, it started to use the screw in reverse, allowing water to flow down it. The weight of the water turns the screw which generates electricity. It works in exactly the same way as a bicycle dynamo, except that instead of a wheel turning the dynamo, it’s the Archimedean screw. Instead of a cyclist using pedals to turn the wheel, it’s the weight of the river water. Simple. No water under pressure like traditional turbines. Also, the Archimedean screw is fish friendly. Fish can travel through it without harm, avoiding expensive screening which has to be regularly cleaned. The Archimedean Screw is particularly efficient at low water flows and is ideal for small heads of water created by river weirs. |
