Hydroelectric scheme for Windsor Castle will go ahead with Dutch turbines after UK supplier struggles to find funding
A British-based entrepreneur, who has just tied up a deal with the Queen to provide hydroelectric "green" energy to Windsor Castle, cannot find a bank willing to lend the money to build the necessary turbines in the UK.
David Dechambeau, who runs Southeast Power Engineering, has been forced to bring in screw turbines from the Netherlands to be placed in the river Thames at Romney Weir. The turbines cost �700,000 and weigh 40 tonnes.
"I have got a local company that would be willing to build the turbines, but we are finding it difficult to find the financial support needed to build this Archimedes-type pump for the first time," said Dechambeau.
Southeast Power Engineering is talking to the Duke of Devonshire about using a similar scheme to turn water from the river Derwent into electricity for another of Britain's historic houses, Chatsworth in Derbyshire.
The house still has original turbines in the basement that date back to 1884 but Dechambeau hopes to bring in a new system that would reintroduce carbon neutral power.
The engineering boss has a series of similar schemes in development on the Thames and Avon rivers that would allow homes and businesses to move away from a reliance on gas or coal-fired electricity.
The inability to find funding will strike a chord with critics of the government who have complained that the plan to set up a green investment bank is taking too long, and that partly state-owned lenders such as Royal Bank of Scotland are still concentrating on oil and gas rather than on green schemes.
It has taken Southeast Power four years to win permission from the Environment Agency to agree to lease part of the riverside land and waters to a private company. Strenuous reviews have taken place to ensure the project at Romney would not adversely affect navigation, flood control or wildlife.
Environmental group Friends of the Earth praised the company and the Queen for leading the way with the river schemes.
"This is exciting news ? we urgently need to develop clean and safe energy to tackle climate change and build a greener economy and it's great that the royal family is showing leadership in doing so," said the group's director of policy and campaigns, Craig Bennett.
"It's not just the royals who can take advantage of the UK's huge potential for renewable energy on and off shore ? from our wind and sun to our waves and river weirs. The government should get on with the job of greening all of our energy supplies and ensure communities are properly supported to produce their own clean power."
Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2011/sep/11/queen-green-energy-bank-backing
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