Shares in Abingdon Hydro went on sale this morning at the Guildhall in Abingdon. The share offer is open until 20th December.
This community project, with plans to generate electricity from the Thames in Abingdon, has had a long journey to get this far… getting planning permission, and approval from the Environment Agency, and answering questions from anglers. 10% of the projects costs are to fund a new fish pass.
They now hope to raise £1.25m from people in the local community to finance the project. There is a risk with the investment, but against the risk is a government tax offer. The earliest investors in this renewable energy project got a 50% tax relief on their investment, and others get 30% tax relief.
Along the River Thames different groups, some private, some community financed, are putting in Archimedes screws near locks to generate electricity. Thanks to the hard work of Richard Riggs and others the Abingdon Hydro will be largely community financed .
The current flow of the River Thames at Abingdon Weir would be what is needed to keep generating at near full power.
Find out more at Abingdon Hydro.
Great to see that there has been such a positive response so far. Well done to the Hydro team.
There’s still time to invest in this exciting project. If you invest you get some control of this community project. You could even become a director if you can persuade members to vote for you.
What an exciting thing to be involved right from the start. This is a project that will run for years and, so long as it continues to work well, will be around for 20 or more years.
You can find a prospectus on the Abintgdon Hydro website and paper copies at Added Ingredients in Stert Street. Please tell your friends about it but don’t leave it too late. When the book is full there will be no more shares for sale.