Sustainable Development Fund 961.44 Kb - the Dorset AONB

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Productive Landscapes…water Water power at Upwey Mill When Sue & Richard Willett moved to Upwey Mill they were entranced by the potential of this Grade 2* listed building to be restored back in to a working mill. But it wasn’t until the late 1990s when concern about climate change focussed their thoughts on the potential of the Mill to generate electricity. As Sue said ‘all that water washing through the Mill was just going to waste’. Literally with their bare hands, they have created a new race and installed a turbine which will generate up to 15kW of electricity an hour to the National Grid. When asked what support they had with the project in addition to SDF, Richard explained ‘a Clear Skies grant paid for the technical back up we needed in huge quantities, but we got a lot of moral support from other small scale microhydro schemes such as Gants Mill in Somerset and Town Mill in Lyme Regis.’ Moral support would have been needed when creating the fall to power the turbine. ‘The Big Hole was a bit of a low point for us – we had to dig down deep then line the hole with 40 tonnes of concrete. We did everything ourselves, apart from mix the concrete!’ The existing Mill wheel couldn’t be used to make electricity as it wasn’t designed to be in constant motion, so they commissioned a new turbine from a small scale producer in Cornwall and set to work creating a race parallel to the existing one. Richard and Sue have flicked the switch and are now proud owners of a working turbine and are keen to share their experiences with others embarking on micro-hydro projects. Magdalen Project A new reedbed filter system has been created at the Magdalen Project education centre near Chard. The system will filter phosphates and detergents from the waste water so that is clean enough, with Environment Agency consent, to go straight into local stream or be reused for showering.
‘We got a lot of moral support from other small scale micro-hydro schemes such as Gants Mill in Somerset and Town Mill in Lyme Regis.’
Page 1 and 2: Celebrating 3 years of the Dorset A
Page 3 and 4: Landscapes and local people The Dor
Page 5 and 6: ‘As the 20 th anniversary of the
Page 7 and 8: ‘The barn raising was great - an
Page 9 and 10: Other food projects we have support
Page 14 and 15: Exploring and celebrating landscape
Page 20 and 21: Special landscapes…for people Lan
Page 22: Special landscapes…for wildlife W
Page 26 and 27: Other Dorset AONB Sustainable Devel
Page 28: For more information on any of the

Sustainable Development Fund 961.44 Kb - the Dorset AONB

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