Hydro model for power

By Mara Pattison-Sowden
WARBURTON’S proposed micro-hydro energy project has been featured at a national power conference in Bendigo yesterday.
Warburton Micro-Hydro project leader Luke Whiteside was invited to speak to the Community Power Conference about the unique project being undertaken in Warburton.
“It’s something a bit unusual, which comes back to the point that most community groups exploring renewable energy are mostly looking at solar and wind,” he said.
“While they’re fantastic resources we don’t have the ability for that but hydro power is arguably the greenest renewable energy form there is.
“The conference had an emphasis on solar and wind so we’re a little unique there because we’re the only hydro community-owned field that’s being proposed.”
The Upper Yarra Community Enterprise, the community bank franchisee of the Warburton and Yarra Junction Bendigo Banks, is providing $50,000, to fund an environmental investigation into the viability of hydro generation on the Ythan Creek at Warburton (The Mail, 5 July 2011).
The project is expected to generate enough electricity to power 50 homes, which those involved believe could become a model for energy income generation in other towns across Australia.
Upper Yarra Community Enterprise executive officer Geoff Vickers said the project was an exciting prospect for the community bank.
“We have an abundance of running water which flows out of the hills around Mt Donna Buang and we are very aware of the need to generate electricity by clean means,” Mr Vickers said.
“The project is now at the stage of studying the environmental impact of taking water from the creek and running it through the hydro-generator before returning the water to the creek. We don’t want to jeopardise the creek or its environmental flows.
“The amount of power we can generate will be determined by the amount of water we can put through the turbine, but we think it offers great potential to generate another income stream for our community. Community banks are all about returning a share of their profits to their communities.”