The Stockport hydro scheme at Otterspool Wier is Manchester's first community-owned hyrdo-electric project.  Within the next month, two huge Archimedes screws will arrive and be lifted into place, paving the way for us to be generating electricity by the spring of this year, 2012.

The scheme has been funded primarily by a community share offer which has raised more than £250k, supported by a grant from the North West Development Agency, a bank loan and a key fund grant.  The share offer is still open, allowing individuals to subscribe to the scheme; in fact, investing over £500 could earn you up to 30% tax relief on the value of your shares. Download a propsectus from this site now.

We expect to generate enough clean, green energy to power about 50 homes,  saving over 90 tonnes of CO2 per year, or over 3,500 tonnes during the estimated 40 year life of the project. The renewable power we will generate will feed into the national grid and profits will be distributed amongst local community projects and a return paid to our investors.

Doing construction work through the winter is always a challenge, and a the breach of a dam wall and consdquent flood held us up for a short while, but everything is now back on track. Actually, the ingress helped in disolodging some materials we would otherwise have had to dig out, and we were delighted to be given the "all clear" from the environment ageny.

See our gallery for some photos of work on the site, or visit our Facebook page.

Also click here to see a short news clip from the BBC on 'our' hydro scheme!

Investment opportunity at Stockport Hydro

We are keeping the share offer open enable as many people as possible to join the scheme.  With a minimum investment of only £250, you could own a share in this ground-breaking community scheme.  Investors of £500 or more could qualify for tax relief of up to 30% of the value of their subscription under the government's EIS programme.

Although the scheme is already fully funded, the more shareholders we have, the lower the bank loan we will need to use and so the scheme will return benefit sooner.

Please feel free to download the prospectus by clicking here.  If you wish to invest, you only need to print the last page, fill it in and post it to the address at the bottom of the page.

Specifically set up for the purpose of generating hydro electricity, Stockport Hydro Ltd plans to install a 54kW plant which will generate approximately 200,000 kWh per year, enough electricity for around 50 houses. It will save 90 tonnes of C02 per year or 3,500 tonnes over its estimated 40 year lifetime. Shares cost £1 each with a minimum shareholding of £250 and a maximum of £20K.

Give a gift that lasts

Many of our subscribers have bought shares for children, grand-children and god-children.  This is a great way of giving the next generation a share in their future.

AGM Minutes now available

We have sought to email these to all members, however a number have "bounced" back.  If you are a member and would like to receive them by post please email Louise@stockport-hydro.co.uk and we will arrange for a set to be sent to you.