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The Whitby Esk Energy – Ruswarp Hydro

a community-owned 50kW Archimedes screw hydroelectric turbine on the River Esk at Ruswarp, near Whitby, North Yorkshire
Whitby Esk Energy is a member

a member of

The scheme is run by volunteers through Esk Energy (Yorkshire) Limited, a registered society.  Our main aim is to reduce the carbon footprint of the Esk Valley through generating renewable electricity. Learn – Share – Educate

Whitby Esk Energy tours

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.

 

 

Visits from University of Hull students

Over the last few years we have hosted tours for MSc Renewable Energy students from the University of Hull.

We’ve had great feedback from the visits including the following from one of the lecturers:

“I’m writing to thank you for all the support that you and the other volunteers have given over the last 3.5 years. It’s been hugely appreciated, and a lot of students have benefited. They usually start the day looking forward to visiting a hydro plant, and finish the day enthused about community energy!”

 

New record generation in a calendar year

Our 2023 generation set a new record for a calendar year at 142 MWh.  Although we lost two weeks of generation following the bottom bearing failure in January we exceeded our previous record set for the year 2016 by about 12%.
Rainfall for the year in the Esk Catchment (as recorded at Westerdale) was the 7th highest in our 11 years of operation. It was above average but not exceptional.  An absence of rain and low river levels mean we cannot generate but we are also affected by heavy rain.  When the river is in spate the level below the weir rises, reducing head and generation.  It seems that 2023 rainfall was about right for much of the time.
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