News

The calendar year-end is always a good time for reflection, and we are pleased to report a bumper year for the Ludlow Hydro Co-operative (LHC), as outlined by our Chairman, Anthony Shuster: “As our eighth year of operation draws to a close, it gives me great pleasure to report that 2023 has been one of our strongest years; both in terms of meeting our green credentials for the amount of renewable electricity generated, and in revenues raised to repay our co-operative investors.”

He goes on to explain: “We had a particularly strong summer in 2023, with water levels in the River Teme comparatively high throughout the months of June – September, certainly compared to recent years. Our team of volunteers have continued to monitor water levels closely, to ensure we work in harmony with the river, performing routine maintenance on our hydro infrastructure to ensure we maximise efficiency, throughout the year. As we look ahead to 2024, we enter the new year from a strong position, which I am optimistic will see our green credentials continue to grow from strength to strength.”

The LHC Board of Directors would like to extend best wishes to our co-operative members and interested parties alike, and to thank you all for your continued support for the Ludlow Hydro Co-operative. Happy New Year!

Following a recent review of our communications strategy, we will be ceasing our website ‘subscribe to mailing list’ service over the next few weeks. This means that going forward, we will not proactively alert subscribers when we post new messages on the website. We will continue to post occasional messages though, and so please book-mark our website and be sure to check for updates from time to time. We are pleased to confirm this will not affect any communication with our co-operative members, which will continue to be administered by Sharenergy. Many thanks for your continued interest and, for supporting the work of the Ludlow Hydro Co-Operative.

Welcome to 2023, heralding the dawn of another exciting year of renewable energy production for the Ludlow Hydro Co-operative (LHC). As our seventh calendar year of production draws to a close LHC Chairman, Anthony Shuster, reflects on a mixed year:

“Throughout a turbulent year of national and international politics, encompassing the current energy crisis that is impacting our nation, our hydro scheme has continued to quietly plug away, generating electricity from the waters of the River Teme at Ludlow. Having endured an exceptionally dry summer season, with water levels so low that we ceased operation throughout most of June through to October in order to protect the local ecology, our overall production was lower than might otherwise have been expected. However, I was recently joined by our local MP Philip Dunne and representatives of the LHC Board, to celebrate our hydro scheme having generated over 1,000,000 KWh of electricity since we started production – an important milestone in our co-operative’s success. This is a remarkable achievement and one we intend celebrating with our co-op members in the coming year.”

Despite the lower volume of electricity generation this year, the co-operative continues to go from strength to strength, with cumulative volumes generated across the seven year period still largely on track with original forecast predictions. As such, we enter 2023 with renewed optimism that the coming year will continue to generate renewable energy, and bring encouraging returns for our co-operative members. Happy New Year!

Local MP Philip Dunne meeting Anthony Shuster at Ludford Mill earlier this year.

The directors of the Ludlow Hydro Co-operative (LHC) are pleased to announce that our hydro-electricity scheme, which started generating electricity from the waters of the River Teme at Ludlow in June 2016, has now generated over 1,000,000 KWh of renewable energy. Anthony Shuster, Chairman of the LHC, explains: “To put this into context, it amounts to producing enough electricity to power around 345 average UK homes for an entire year. This is a remarkable achievement and one we intend celebrating with our co-op members in the coming year.”

This is a significant milestone for the co-operative which is now in its seventh year of operation. The LHC uses a 30KW turbine to generate electricity. An Archimedes Screw was chosen because it is the most fish-friendly turbine design, enabling fish to pass through it without suffering any harm. The turbine comprises a large helical steel “screw” (in our case about 2.5m in diameter) rotating at a very slow speed, in a concrete and steel “trough”. The screw itself, is not visible from the river. It sits inside an enclosure built of the same stone and timber as the neighbouring mill buildings; so it blends in with its surroundings. The enclosure also provides sound insulation to ensure noise levels are kept very low.

Located on the Horseshoe Weir of the River Teme at Ludford Mill, on the outskirts of Ludlow in Shropshire, the strategic objective of the LHC is to optimise returns from the hydro installation in order to pay back community investors over a twenty-year term, whilst promoting the concepts of renewable energy and energy efficiency within the wider community. Working in collaboration with the Teme Weirs Trust, a display board positioned on the river bank at Temeside in Ludlow was updated in 2019, to provide additional information about the scheme for the benefit of visitors to the town. Further information and a ‘live’ generation counter can also be viewed on the LHC website (see right-hand panel).

A warm welcome to 2022 and the beginning of our seventh year of hydro-electric generation. The past year has been relatively quiet for the Ludlow Hydro Co-operative. We have undertaken general maintenance tasks throughout the year, and Clive in particular, has done a sterling job keeping the waterways clear of debris, to ensure we maximise the flow of water through our turbine. Happily, there were no major emergencies to trouble-shoot this year – it’s been very much ‘business as usual’. You will find the full calendar year generation figures freshly published on ‘The Scheme’ page of our website.

As we move into 2022, Anthony Shuster (Chairman of the Ludlow Hydro Co-operative), confirms: “We have benefited from high water levels throughout most of the year, with just September being dryer than normal. As such, we have had a strong year of hydro-electric generation which you will see reflected in our Generation Output charts. It gives me pleasure to report that we are well and truly back to normal operation, with continued confidence that our plant is ready to deliver our quota of hydro power across the coming year. In the meantime, we would like to take this opportunity to thank all our Co-op Members, contractors and interested parties for their continued support and, to wish everyone a very Happy New Year!”

It is that time of year again, when we start preparing for the Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the Ludlow Hydro Co-operative. Following the success of our virtual meeting last year and, mindful of the ongoing restrictions around Covid-19, our AGM will once again be hosted on Zoom. Sharenergy will be contacting Members with full details and joining instructions, shortly. In the meantime, to give our members as much notice as possible, we are happy to announce the AGM will be held on Friday 26th March, 2021 at 18:00.

A warm welcome to 2021 and the beginning of our sixth year of hydro-electric generation. The past year brought many challenges for the Ludlow Hydro Co-operative. Extreme flooding in February caused serious damage to our hydro plant. Then we had the challenges of Covid-19 restrictions while repair work got underway. Finally, there were unexpected technical issues to overcome before we were finally back up and running again. Thankfully from our member’s perspective, we had appropriate insurance in place to cover the repair work and loss of income. In fact, despite our electricity generation being out of operation for nearly five months in 2020, we nevertheless resumed normal operation by August and had a strong finish to the year. You will find the full calendar year generation figures freshly published on ‘The Scheme’ page of our website.

As we move into 2021, Anthony Schuster (Chairman of the Ludlow Hydro Co-operative), confirms: “Despite the challenges of 2020, we are optimistic of a strong year ahead in terms of hydro-electric generation for 2021. With all repair work successfully completed, we are back to normal operation, with renewed confidence that our plant is ready to deliver our quota of hydro power in the months ahead. In the meantime, we would like to take this opportunity to thank all our Co-op Members, contractors and interested parties for their continued support and, to wish everyone a very Happy New Year!”

Good news! It gives us great pleasure to confirm that our hydro electric generator is now back online and generating electricity, as Clive Walker explains:

“The generator has now been rewound and reinstalled. Twice. It failed testing the first time, meaning it had to be removed and returned for further repair. The hydraulic brake motor has also had to be replaced, twice. Both were finally operational by the end of May, by which time the equipment in the control cabinet had also been given a clean bill of health.”

Although failure of the initial installations increased our team’s workload considerably, the remedial work was delivered while awaiting delivery of a vital component – replacement stop-logs (used for sound-proofing), from Germany. However, Clive and the team were able to put the time to good use:

“The downtime gave our team the opportunity to inspect the lower screw bearing and to change the oil there. This involved creating a dam and emptying the water from the screw enclosure, to allow access; the whole process taking two days. The replacement stop-logs eventually arrived in the middle of June and were installed the following week. This just left recalibration of the various water sensors, which were causing misleading information to be sent to the main controller. So, after a delay of over four months, we are finally back up and running once more, albeit slowly given the current lack of water in the river.”

Looking back at past data, you will see that July through to September are historically our quietest months when it comes to electricity generation. This is due to water levels in the river being lower throughout the summer period.  However, we are sure you will share our relief that, after a busy few months of repair work activity, we are now once again fully operational. Many thanks for your continued interest and, for supporting the work of the Ludlow Hydro Co-Operative.

Over the past six weeks, our team have continued to work with contractors to bring about repairs to our hydro infrastructure and we are happy to report that this work is now nearing completion.  Whilst Coronavirus lockdown has inevitably delayed proceedings, we have also had to cope with some technical set-backs along the way.  However, with the further lifting of lockdown restrictions this week, we continue to anticipate the generator will be back online and resuming normal business activity, by the end of June.

In the meantime, we are pleased to report that our insurers have now paid out interim payments toward the repair work and in lieu of our lost income from business interruption, with a further final payment due shortly.  With this in mind, we still anticipate being in a position to make a repayment of capital to our members later in the year, as per the motion carried at our recent AGM.

Please continue to stay safe in these difficult times and we will post further updates shortly, just as soon as our hydro generator resumes normal operation. Many thanks for your continued interest and, for supporting the work of the Ludlow Hydro Co-Operative.