Progress is being made by Catrine Community Trust (CCT) as it works to get the village’s troubled community hydro scheme back up and running at a profit.
The group has applied to Whitelee Renewable Energy Fund for a £30,000 grant to buy the scheme’s turbine house at Laigh Road, plus £5,000 to hire a consultant to develop a business plan.
The trust has also submitted a planning application to convert the local fish hatchery into an operations base for the hydro scheme.
Catrine Hydro scheme was set up in 2016 and utilised a system that had powered the village’s historic cotton manufacturing plant for almost 170 years.
The expectation was that the power generated would cover the cost of loans used to develop the project.
However, lower than anticipated rainfall leading to less energy being produced increased financial pressures.
Since then, work has been carried out to make the scheme more efficient ‘with the potential for increased electricity generation and, therefore, greater income generation’.
The trust said it could increase the output by 40 per cent – around £48,000 on top of the £120,000 it generated in its first two years of operation.
The trust currently rents the facility at five per cent of its annual gross income.
The grant application states: “Given the current electricity market, it is likely that the cost of the scheme will substantially increase.
“Although this increase will also generate additional income for the trust, the purchase of the turbine house would help negate any potential rental increase and contribute to the longer-term sustainability of CCT.”
The hatchery in Laigh Road was operated by the trust between 2008 and 2011.
The application to change the use of the hatchery states: “Repurposing the current tank room to an operations and communications centre for hydro staff will be pivotal in achieving this goal.
“Enhanced flood control measures and remote operation of sluice gates and valves require appropriate accommodation adjacent to the generation infrastructure for which the current building is ideally suited.”
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