Here we are in July, and I recently picked up a news article suggesting we’ve had one of the 6 wettest Springs since 1838; it certainly feels that way…but one real advantage of being involved with the turbine is that I can look out at the rain and think about all the lovely power we will generate. Ideal conditions for generation involve plenty of steady rain, which is just what we have been getting. As a result we have had probably our best Spring  and early Summer since we started.

I should add that too much rain can also cause us problems: if there’s too much water coming down, particularly if tides are high, river levels below the turbine rise too much and we can’t run…it’s gravity, not flow, that drives the screw round; if we lose the drop from above to below the dam, we lose power. Also very heavy rain/high river tends to bring down a lot of dead wood which clogs up the intake screen – I’ll talk more about this, perhaps in the Autumn.

And it hasn’t been all wet misery with the weather; we had a good working party in April, when a lot of site tidying and a number of outstanding jobs got done;  we then entertained a party of students for the University of Hull at the end of the month: they were bright and keen and asked lots of sensible questions; we hope they will go on to become green energy advocates and help to change the world.

Rory Newman, Chair of Esk Energy

Would you like to visit our community-owned 50kW Archimedes screw hydroelectric turbine on the River Esk at Ruswarp, near Whitby and find out how we generate renewable electricity?

We can arrange tours round the site for individuals and groups of up to 30, both during the week and at weekends, depending on the availability of our volunteers.

To find our more, please get in touch.