THRYBERGH HYDROPOWER STATION
BARN ENERGY LIMITED
KEY FACTS
Commissioning date: September 2015
Location: River Don, nr. Rotherham
Turbine: Twin Archimedes Screws
Maximum output: 260kW
Annual generation: 1 million kWh
Catchment area: 880 km2
Maximum turbine flow: 12 cumecs
Maximum head: 3.15 m
BUILDING A HYDROPOWER STATION
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The system was designed by ANF Consulting and JNP of Brighouse.
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It comprises twin Archimedes Screws manufactured by Spaans Babcock.
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It has been delivered by Eric Wright Civil Engineering, on time and to budget, aided by Cobalt Project Management.
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It is connected to the grid via a Northern Powergrid substation at the site.
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Commissioned in September 2015 it:
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delivers up to 260kW of capacity, generating around 1,000,000 units (kWh) per annum
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enough electricity to take around 300 average UK homes off the grid almost in perpetuity
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THE PROJECT
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Barn Energy has consulted very closely since March 2013 with local angling groups, the Don Catchment River Trust, neighbours and landlords (the Environment Agency and the Canal & River Trust)
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Environment Agency Abstraction Licences (for hydro and fish passage) and Rotherham Planning Permission were granted in September 2014 with not one expression of dissent made.
FISH AND EEL PASSAGE
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Weirs have been effective and complete obstacles to upstream salmon/trout passage – and returning eel and elver populations;
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This scheme sees the removal of that obstacle at Thrybergh weir, providing these species, plus adult coarse fish, the means to migrate upstream for the first time for centuries;
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A so-called Larinier fish pass, together with an eel pass on the weir, and a revision of the defunct structure on the weir as a bywash, together with the new fish pass at Sprotbrough, provides connectivity on the Don, another step on the way to getting salmon to Sheffield. For details of the earlier project see https://www.gov.uk/government/news/bringing-salmon-back-to-south-yorkshire
