Yorkshire Hydropower Limited (YHL)

YHL comprises two low head run of the river hydro projects and a battery storage facility.

The Kirkthorpe low head hydropower project is located alongside the River Calder near Wakefield, Yorkshire and was commissioned on 21 November 2016. The project consists of a single horizontal (2m diameter) Kaplan Turbine with a total maximum output capacity of 550kW which is capped at 500kW owing to theFIT threshold. The turbine was supplied by CINK Hydropower SV.  The project is fully accredited for the FiT from 19 December 2016 for 20 years.

The Thrybergh low head hydropower project is located alongside the River Don near Rotherham, Yorkshire and was commissioned on 26 October 2015. The project consists of twin 3.6m diameter Archimedes Screws manufactured by Spaans Babcock with an output capacity of 260 kW.  YHL Thrybergh uses twin Archimedes Screws. These are large slow rotating screws historically used as pumps and now used as hydro turbines; the principle is the same but acts in reverse. Water enters the screw at the top and the weight of the water pushes on the helical flights, allowing the water to fall tothe lower level and causing the screw to rotate. This rotational energy is then extracted by an electrical generator connected to the main shaft of the screw. The turbines were manufactured and installed by Spaans Babcock, a Dutch company with over 120 years of experience in designing and building water and wastewater treatment equipment for hydropower plants.  The project is fully accredited for the FiT from 26 October 2015 for 20 years.

In January 2018 a 1.2MW/1.2MWh containerised Lithium-ion battery was installed alongside the hydropower station at Thrybergh. The battery was awarded a Frequency Response contract for services delivered for 2 years from January 2018. The BYD (Shenzhen) Lithium-ion battery was installed and maintained by Anesco a leading battery installer.

Project Specifics

Acquisition date
July 2019

Acquisition price
£4.3 million

Plant description
Two operational low head hydropower stations and a battery storage system

Operational date
October 2015

Revenue incentives
Both hydro projects are accredited under the 20-year Feed-in-Tariff scheme.  The battery storage project at Thrybergh is currently dedicated to a Firm Frequency Response contract.