Operation of England's biggest hydroelectric power station - located below the dam at Kielder Water, Northumberland - has changed hands in a renewable energy deal worth several millions of pounds.
Northumbrian Water1 has signed a long-term agreement with RWE npower for it to operate, maintain and sell the energy from the dual turbine power plant through their dedicated renewables business, npower renewables. Ownership of the power station remains with Northumbrian Water.
The deal will allow npower renewables to make significant investments into the plant and refurbish the turbines to improve efficiency and increase the generation of renewable energy.
Kielder Water2 is the largest man-made lake in Northern Europe. Up to 1,300 million litres of water a day can be released from the reservoir on behalf of the Environment Agency to regulate the flows and improve the environment of the rivers North Tyne and Tyne.
This water also drives the hydroelectric power plant which can produce up to six megawatts of electricity and, over a year, is capable of generating enough clean electricity to meet the average needs of about 4,000 homes.
The announcement will not have any detrimental impact on the environment and river flows in the North Tyne will not be affected because the releases of water from Kielder Water, the management of the operation and the continual monitoring of water levels in the river, will remain the same.
The new deal, which has assigned full management of the plant over to npower renewables, will remain in place until 2025.
RWE npower3 will pay for the Kielder power station energy rights and these funds will be divided between the Environment Agency and the previous operator.
The funds that the Environment Agency receives will partially offset the water abstraction charges it levies on Northumbrian Water and other abstractors in the region.
Kielder is the first English project operated by npower renewables4 and takes the company's hydro portfolio to a total of 55 megawatts.
Graham Neave, Northumbrian Water's Operations Director, said: "Northumbrian Water is committed to harnessing the latent renewable power of water from Kielder where power plant efficiency will be improved through this new partnership."
Alastair Gill, Hydro Development Manager for npower renewables said: "We are delighted to have acquired the operating rights for this 6MW project. We will be looking to use our skills and experience from our existing hydro stations to refurbish the two turbines to optimise their performance throughout the 20 years. The benefits of the optimisation will, however, continue beyond 2025 when the project reverts back to management by Northumbrian Water."
For further information contact:
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Alistair Baker, Communications and PR Manager, Northumbrian Water
T: 0191-301-6851
- Karen Jones, PR Manager, npower renewables
T: 07989 493 165
Editors Notes
- Northumbrian Water is the leading environmental company in North East England providing water and waste water treatment services to 2.6 million customers. It also provides drinking water to 1.7 million customers in Essex and Suffolk.
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Kielder Water - Northern Europe's largest man-made lake - has a surface area of 1086 hectares (2,740 acres) holds 200,000 million litres (44,000 million gallons) and a shoreline length of 43.5km (27 miles).
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RWE npower is a leading integrated UK energy company with 8000MW of generation capacity from a diverse portfolio of assets. The company also sells expertise in power generation into key markets. Its sister company, npower, is one of the UK's largest energy suppliers serving around 6 million residential and business customers.
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npower renewables is part of RWE npower and is one of the leading renewable energy developers and operators. The company is dedicated to generating electricity using sustainable, environmentally-friendly resources. It brings together into one entity a family of businesses that are developing the natural power of wind, hydro and co-firing biomass, as significant sources of power for the UK's present and future electricity needs.
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