Royals opt for green energy with hydroelectric plant on Thames |
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Tue, 26 Jul 2005 01:05
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LONDON: Windsor Castle occupants are about to set an example to the world after the Queen gave her approval to a £1 million, hydro-electric plant dedicated to generating power for the castle. This four-turbine energy plant will be built on the River Thames River and will meet 1/3rd of the Castle’s energy requirements.
In a world that needs to treat the current ecological condition as critical, such initiatives serve as examples of how the leadership can take such significant steps towards combating the green house effect.
The project application was submitted to the Castle and Maidenhead council in Feb 2004. The Queen granted full planning permission on Friday.
The new hydroelectric plant’s turbines will be built by npower renewables and will be submerged in Romney Weir’s bays. The electricity from the new plant, about 200 kilowatts, will be fed straight into Windsor Castle and not into the local grid. It will be the biggest of its kind in the South of England. Its four turbines will be submerged in two of Romney Weir’s bays.
Npower renewables has promised to make the new structure as unobtrusive as possible and to incorporate into the existing weir. Alastair Gill, the energy company’s hydro development manager, said it will be carefully designed to make sure it has “little impact on the ecology, navigation and marine life of the river.” It will be almost silent and very hard to see.
Environmental watchdog ‘Friends of the Earth’ welcomed the news. The group’s director Tony Juniper said they were delighted by the Queen’s initiative and lead in using a more eco-friendly source of electricity. In their press note, he said that it also “highlights the massive potential for small-scale micro-generation systems within the UK.”
The press note goes on to say that homes in the UK, though not having access to hydroelectricity, could still follow the Queen’s example – they could install solar panels or small wind turbines instead. Such efforts could add up to huge savings in power bills and national energy consumption.
The royal family has always followed an environmentally friendly lifestyle. It is well-known that the Duke of Edinburgh travels around London in a taxi-cab that is fuelled by liquid petroleum gas. The Buckingham Palace is also known to use water from a bore hole to supply air conditioning to the Queen’s gallery.
Construction on the power plant will begin next year after a feasibility study. Supply to the Castle may start before the end of 2004.
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