River Bain Hydro


The River Bain Hydro is a hydroelectric generator based on the River Bain in the village of Bainbridge, North Yorkshire, England. It's screw turbine powers most of the properties in the village, with excess electricity being sold off to the national grid. It was opened in 2011 with an installed capacity of 45 kW, and is expected to last 40 years. It is a low demand ecofriendly scheme, and more hydro electric power generators are being manufactured to provide green energy at a low cost.

History

A hydro-power plant had been in existence on the site since the late 19th century. Like the new scheme, this was a locally-run affair which was wound up in 1953 when the National Grid took over supplying power to the area. The new plant was built between 2010 and 2011, with the long Archimedes screw being brought in from a specialist engineering firm in Germany.
The plant, which was funded by a community scheme and cost £450,000 to build, opened in May 2011 and will supply enough power for 40 homes in the village of Bainbridge. The plant is expected to save over of carbon dioxide over its 40-year life.