Congleton Hydro: Where there’s a will – and a weir – there’s a way to form a community energy society

It wasn’t easy for the founders of what is now Congleton Hydro to turn their vision into reality. Their mission was to generate ‘green’ electricity via a micro-hydro scheme, using the energy produced by the Havannah Weir on the River Dane, just north of Congleton in Cheshire. 

They had numerous challenges to face. Firstly, the land where the weir is situated was owned by a fishing club. Luckily, the group had been given a grant by Defra (the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs) for a feasibility study – and there was some surplus, which Defra suggested they use to buy the land. So they did.

Bob Owen, former General Manager at nearby manufacturer Siemens, is one of the pint-drinking pioneers of the plan. He contacted his old company. “They agreed to take our electricity at the market rate, and we could put in a private cable, as the factory is only a kilometre away.” 

With Siemens on board and a loan from Defra, Bob and his colleagues were ready to take the next steps. “We engaged hydro consultants but wanted to do as much as we could on the electrical side, so we started the design work,” he said. 

However, planning permission was to be another challenge. Initially turned down, it looked likely to be refused a second time – but support from local people had swelled and they made their voices heard. So, it went to a planning committee hearing – and permission was granted. 

But another challenge soon presented itself: their community share offer was launched the day before the first Covid-19 lockdown, so their planned public events were cancelled. However, they tapped into the power of Zoom – and the popularity of their online meetings grew. 

“The interest just got more and more and we found we were holding the same workshops one to two times a week,” said Bob, who, as part of their efforts, came across the Community Shares Booster Fund delivered by the Community Shares Unit at Co‑operatives UK. 

“I remember thinking, ‘This will be useful for us if we struggle to raise money,’” he said. “Normally, you’d apply to the Booster Fund before launch, but we did it three quarters of the way through our share offer. 

“Once our application was accepted, we got a lot of support and encouragement from the team. And we were offered match funding of £100,000. However, we only needed about £57,000, because by then the share offer had gathered momentum.”

By early Summer 2020, Congleton Hydro reached their target, raising £750,000 from 323 investor members. 

The next challenge was getting adequate access to the site for construction, which was via a nearby farm’s silage field. “Initially, the farm was reluctant. But we kept on ‘pestering’ them and in the end, they granted us access rights,” Bob recalled. 

“We started generating on 1 October 2021,” he said. Since then, Congleton Hydro’s founders have built up a team of volunteers to help maintain and ‘de-trash’ the hydro and re-wild the area around the site that was disrupted during construction. 

“They enjoy it and have met new friends. Some of them were a bit isolated, so getting out has done their health the power of good,” said Bob, who’s proud of what they’ve achieved so far: “Today, we are ahead of our generation schedule in terms of kilowatt hours and importantly our finances.

“From day one, we said we wanted this to be suitable for an education programme. So we run tours of the hydro and have interpretation boards on the approach to the building, telling the story of the site, the river and the history of weirs and why we use them.” 

As part of their mission, Congleton Hydro annually donate £5,000 surplus to local community projects that promote, enhance and educate about sustainability and the environment.

Last year they, donated to four school projects and a community group. One of these used the funds to buy microscopes so they could study insects. Another donation went to a local community group. This enabled them to sustainably grow greens for their community,” said Bob. 

With business thriving, the team have now branched out into solar – and have formed a second community benefit society. Congleton Solar issued a community share offer in 2023 and will make its first solar installation later in 2024.

“We’re thankful for the support the team at Co‑operative UK’s Community Shares Unit have given us in setting up Congleton Solar,” Bob said. 

“They’ve helped us with pointers, knowledge and guides, all of which has been a great resource. They have also made an investment of £60,000, which together with a grant and loan from The Key Fund, enabled us to raise around £500,000.”

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