March 11, 2009 The Times
Britain's rivers called on to provide renewable energy
Robin Pagnamenta, Energy and Environment Editor

Up to 25 hydroelectric schemes generating enough renewable energy to power 40,000 homes may be sited on stretches of rivers including the Severn and the Trent.
British Waterways, which manages more than 2,200 miles of navigable canals and rivers, claims that its project will save 170,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide a year.
Planning permission is being sought for the first five schemes, to be built next to weirs and dams on the Trent in the Midlands and the Aire, Ouse and Don in Yorkshire.
British Waterways said that it was also exploring ways of harnessing hydropower on the Severn. Further energy may be generated from the “feed” of water into canals from reservoirs, of which the authority owns 90.
Canals being considered for the scheme would not be man-made but rivers converted into waterways, which retain a natural flow.
The project will be funded with a £120 million investment from Climate Change Capital, a £1.1 billion investment fund focused on renewable energy technology.
The cash will be spent over the next three years, installing turbine equipment and other infrastructure to generate and distribute about 40 megawatts of power, starting in 2010. Passages for fish will be built into the infrastructure where necessary.
British Waterways, a not-for-profit public corporation, is collaborating on the project with the Small Hydro Company to generate 210,000 megawatt hours of renewable energy a year. Last year British Waterways announced a plan to use riverbanks to build 50 wind turbines that will have the capacity to generate 100 megawatts of renewable electricity.
Any income generated from the schemes will be reinvested in the maintenance of the waterways.
Ed Miliband, the Energy Secretary, said that from next year the Government will introduce a “feed-in tariff” for small-scale renewables that would reward projects such as the hydroelectric schemes with cash payments. The renewable energy industry is struggling because of a lack of funding for big schemes resulting from the credit crunch.
About 40 per cent of the United Kingdom's renewable electricity is provided by hydropower but few large schemes have been constructed since the 1980s. Globally, hydro generates about 20 per cent of electricity requirements.

March 11, 2009 Guardian

Canals and rivers to lead micro-hydropower revolution
British Waterways announces plans to build 25 small-scale schemes which could power 40,000 homes
• Adam Vaughan
• guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 11 March 2009 

Britain's canals and rivers have already been heralded as a low-carbon way to transport Tesco groceries, a test-bed for hydrogen boats and a opportunity to build more wind turbines. Now they're being billed as a chance for micro hydropower to flourish under new plans unveiled today by British Waterways, which maintains 2,200 miles of the country's canals and rivers.
In partnership with The Small Hydro Company, British Waterways said it intended to build 25 small-scale hydro-electric schemes with a capacity of 40MW, enough to power 40,000 homes. While far smaller in capacity than offshore wind farms switched on in 2008, the hydro initiative hopes to raise £120m in private capital over the next three years, create 150 construction jobs and reduce CO2 emissions by 110,000 tonnes annually.
Underwater turbines will be installed next to existing weirs and will not affect the navigation of canals and rivers. Larger waterways such as the Trent and Severn rivers will be used for the first hydro power projects, with many of the installations likely to be located in the East Midlands and Yorkshire. It is hoped the first of the 25 hydro installations will be generating renewable electricity by 2010.
"Britain's waterways were the arteries of our economy, providing transport and power," said the environment secretary, Hilary Benn. "This scheme shows how with ingenuity and innovation they can once again deliver real economic, social, and environmental benefits, especially in tackling and adapting to climate change."
Last year British Waterways also announced plans to build wind turbines with 100MW of generating capacity, and more recently it said it wanted unused land by canals and rivers to be turned into allotments.