Asked by: Robert Flello (Labour - Stoke-on-Trent South)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what estimate his Department has made of the amount of sustainable, renewable energy which can be generated from a water mill.
Answered by Jesse Norman
The level of electricity generation is dependent on the flow rate of the water and the difference in elevation between the intake and the outlet. Capacities for run of river plants tend to be below 2 Megawatts and more typically below 500 Kilowatts. Current UK hydro capacity is estimated at 1,750 Megawatts with further potential of around 1,000 Megawatts, mostly at small scale in remote locations.
Asked by: Robert Flello (Labour - Stoke-on-Trent South)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how many water mills there are in the UK in (a) total, (b) fully working condition, (c) need of repair and (d) need of full rebuilding.
Answered by Jesse Norman
The Government does not keep data on water mills.
The majority of hydro capacity in Great Britain was installed in Scotland in the first hydro revolution in the 1950s, with a smaller amount installed in Wales. The majority of these installations are still operating. In 2015, it was estimated that there were 1,065 operational plants with a capacity of 1,750 Megawatts, generating 6 Terawatt hours (equivalent to 1.8% of UK electricity supply)[1].
The Government does not monitor the condition of existing hydro power plants in the UK. It is a business decision for companies to determine when to carry out repairs and refurbishments.
[1] www.gov.uk/government/statistics/regional-renewable-statistics