Conwy Hydro Meeting 25/11/2013 – Canolfan Tryweryn
The note beneath is a result of notes taken by Canoe Wales at the meeting. In the interests of
partnership these were shared with RWE Npower Renewables for veracity. These notes represent
what was acceptable to RWE to be published.
It was hoped that RWE would make the presentation from the meeting available, but this isn’t the
case. RWE will be providing a website later this week and CW will place this link on this page.
General
28 people attended a meeting to hear about proposals for an in river hydro scheme.
RWE npower renewables [RWE] presented supported by their consultants Dulas.
The proposal at this stage is still fluid and has not yet reached “design freeze” ahead of a planning
application being made to Snowdonia National Park Authority or abstraction application being made
to Natural Resources Wales [NRW].
The scheme proposed is mostly on the land of Foelas Estate and National Trust Land.
Foelas and NT will be paid a lease for after which the ownership of the scheme, along with any legal
covenants will revert to them from RWE. (lease term not yet finalised)
The scheme is forecast to cost around £12 million and will on current forecast break even after
approximately 10 years.
After construction it will create at least one FTE role in the area. (this will be analysed as part of the
EIA)
The scheme is peak generation of 5MW and operates on a 90m head given by an in river weir above
Conwy falls and a large tunnel and buried pipe of around 2km on the N side of the A5 to a
powerhouse downstream of the Lledr Confluence.
On current predictions the scheme will generate on full power for 15% of the year and be off for 35%
of the year the remaining 50% will be variable with flow.
The abstraction would be in the form of a percentage of the natural flow rate above a “hands off flow”
of approximately Q95. [Q95 is defined as is the average flow for any one day expected to be greater
for 95 days in any 100 days]
It is proposed the turbines can start operating when there is .75cms available as an agreed
percentage over “hands off flow” maximum draw is 6cms.
Accurate predictions for the future cannot be made, nor can the legal requirements for abstraction
be guaranteed. Hence the financial return is not guaranteed.
The powerhouse will be 20m by 10m and be largely buried near the river bank.
A buried cable will take the power to the grid at Betws y Coed.
Works details will be available as proposed layout on website (will go live later this week)
The abstraction will take place in a Site of Special Scientific Interest. There is no transferable science
or monitoring available to accurately predict the impact at this stage. This scheme is proposed to
have some monitoring so that future decisions can learn from it. RWE suggested NRW will take a
precautionary approach to the abstraction.
There are opportunities to enhance the environment, eg removal of invasive species, increasing
natural woodland areas.
NRW have withheld opinions on the scheme but have provided data and expertise.
The take off will require a weir that may have safety issues-design dependent.
It is a technically and financially viable scheme.
Planning application likely to be submitted Q1 2014, with site set up infrastructure work taking place
earliest Q4 that same year. Anticipated 18 months to 2 years construction period.
Canoeing
There will be a reduction in the number of days the Fairy Glen will be able to be paddled.
There is not agreement at the moment as to what effect generation may look like forecasts suggest
a third of the paddleable days will be lost with the current proposal.
RWE are open to tweaking the scheme based on knowledge of what may be lost, this has to be
within constraints of other statutory obligations and stakeholder interests.
RWE have offered to remove weirs on other rivers mainly to benefit fisheries.
RWE suggest the intake weir would be designed to provide a safer exit point from the river above
the Conwy Falls.
A river level gauge would be on the weir and this data could be made available to canoeists.