Sonning Hydro electric plant opens

Aa hydroelectric power plant has officially opened in Sonning.

The £700,000 plant consists of a 25-tonne Archimedes screw on the River Thames at the village weir , near Upper Thames Motor Yacht Club. It can generate enough electricity to power about 120 homes in a year.

This will be sold to the National Grid under the Government’s “feed-in” tariff scheme for green projects. Construction by Pridewater Estates started last summer and finished in January and the plant has been operational ever since.

Hugo and Annabel Gamble, who own the site, attended the opening ceremony along with Sonning parish councillors, supporters of the project and Terry Lane, of Pridewater , who unveiled a plaque.

Mr Lane said: “All our people who have been involved in this development are immensely proud. We hope it provides the inspiration for others to look for similar opportunities to improve the environment, while at the same time growing their businesses.”

Mr Gamble said: “For many years, we have stood at this point and thought it would be a very good place from which to generate green electricity from hydropower. We had a licence and a rather sketchy vision of what might be, but Pridewater and its contractor Greenford were the masterminds.”

The ceremony was followed by a reception at the yacht club.