Path is Restored

The path between the two lakes has now been completely restored from top to bottom. Many people had concerns that this much used path would be neglected after the work on the Hydro had been completed. (Oh ye of little faith!) The Communities First Partnership and the Cwmclydach Community Development Trust were determined to prove them wrong and sought funding to restore and improve it.

 The total cost of the work was £47,000 and we were successful in sourcing £30,000 from the Welsh Governments’ Tidy Towns fund and an additional £17,000 from our partners RCT Land Reclamation. We would like to take this opportunity to thank all our funders and the contractors in the support they gave us in completing this scheme. The path is now a huge improvement to what it was before the civil works on the hydro began.

Cwmclydach Micro Hydro

The Communities Hydro Electric plant is really going well generating over 150,000 Kilowatts of electricity since it was switched on in early April. Considering we had one of the driest springs and winters for many years we are really pleased with the way it has been performing and it is on target to generate the 250,000 Kwh we aimed for this year.  

Not only that, but it is attracting visitors and interest from all over the UK including two people from Northern Island, one from Manchester and even phone calls from the Orkney Islands seeking information. The Communities First team have been invited to give presentations in North Wales and all over the South Wales area so it is really keeping Clydach Vale / Blaenclydach in the public eye.

In November the project also won the Chartered Institute of Building Services Engineers Award as the best Sustainable Project of 2011. In addition to that the scheme is shortlisted as the best Green Environmental Project in Wales Award run by The Welsh Council For Voluntary Action and fingers crossed we will come at least third in that category.

Other notable visitors to the Hydro have been Roy Noble, Terry Venables, the Welsh Government Minister for the Environment Mr John Griffiths AM and Deputy Presiding Officer of the Welsh Government Mr David Melding AM All of whom have been impressed by the quality of the build and the way the system works and how the community brought the project to life.

It's typical of British weather that while we were building the hydro plant it hardly stopped raining and the contractors struggled against mud, snow and rain for the best part of three months.  Of course once the project was finally finished and before we could commission it officially, we have had the driest March and April for years and May hasn't produced a lot of rainfall either.  However, the good news is that the last couple of days have brought water levels in the Top Lake up a little allowing the turbine to start generating at last.  It's nowhere near the full capacity of 60 kilowatts yet, but we wouldn't expect that until the autumn.  So we hope to have a little bit more rain (not too much, just enough to keep the levels up to work the turbine.) 

On June the 8th we will be official opening the turbine and hopefully we'll have a special guest to switch it on.  Watch this space.