Hydro Plans on the Foyle

[FaughanPurple]

COUNCIL TO DEVELOP A HYDRO TURBINE Wed 13th Feb 2008

Omagh District Council has recently taken over from Omagh College as lead partner in a project use the weir on the Camowen River, adjacent to Omagh Leisure Complex, to generate electricity through a hydro turbine. This project will complement the Council’s initiatives to develop ‘green’ energy from renewable sources, including the installation of a biomass boiler at Omagh Leisure Complex. The revenue generated by the electricity from the hydro scheme will be contributed to a sustainability fund, which would become a resource to support other sustainability projects in the district.

Since taking over the project Omagh District Council has initiated a process to appoint consultants to review the project’s development to date, including all technical and environmental aspects of the scheme. As part of this process the Council will wish to ensure that all the appropriate steps have been taken and all statutory measures have been complied with to date.

The Council is very conscious of the importance of the Camowen River as a fishery, and of the concerns of anglers. As part of the full review of the project it is intended to consult with all interested parties, including the Loughs Agency and other fishery interests to provide reassurance and correct any misunderstanding about the project.

This project to develop a hydro turbine on the Camowen River will create a very valuable resource for renewable energy, with many benefits being re-invested to the community and providing a valuable educational resource for Omagh College. The turbine is expected to generate up to 680,000kWh of electricity valued at approximately £75,000, and could reduce carbon emissions by 292 tonnes annually. Not only will the provision of this renewable energy help protect the environment, but it will also contribute to achieving the Council’s target to achieve 12% of its energy consumption from renewable sources by the end of 2008.

The Council has commissioned a feasibility study and a financial appraisal of the project, and is now in the process of appointing the technical team to progress the project. Once the technical assessment has been completed, a recommendation will be brought to Council for approval.


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Stupid stupid people

Hydro Electricity on a migratory river like any of the Foyle system will all but kill off our salmon runs

Read Trout and Salmon this last few months


The Tees Barrage…The River Garry in Scotland…the what and where??? I hear you say exactly!!!! the river is gone theres nothing there but rocks and boulders.

Even the Severn is thinking of putting one in and its being objected too due to the small run of Salmon that needs saving!!

These people are idiots!!!

How can you alter a river and its flow and not expcet to have serious knock on effects to its habitat and livestock.

A mill at Sion kills hundredS every year and its only tiny and its being regulated and checked imagine what this will do to fry smolts and returning Salmon

Have they no bloody sense.

Every river that has put in a hydro plant has suffered serious stock falls in salmon

Its all pounds signs and money to bloody councils isnt it

Wheres the petition I'll sign

STOP HYDRO NOW!!! LEAVE OUR RIVERS ALONE!!!!

The councillors should Take a cut in wages if you want more money for the local council have fund raisers but don’t impose these Hydro Killers on our rivers!!!!!

If you don’t believe me about the Garry try this link and post it on your site for all to see what can and will happen!!!!!

This could be us if we don’t watch our selves

http://www.tdsfb.org/RiverGarryReport.htm

 

[easky]

lets hope the feasibility study recommends that the project is not viable , once one of these start on the system where will it end

 

[FaughanPurple]

Looks like this planned Hydro dam is going ahead!!!

i wonder what the knock on affects are going to be to our endangered salmon.

I wonder what run of fish this tributary takes Spring, Grilse or Autumn?


Im surprised the Omagh Anglers didnt make a bigger deal about it and the Fisheries didnt either.

Just goes to show money talks in the end

 

[ROEDOC]

hydro

I,m sure the OMAGH lads did what they could.Loughs Agency are dead against hydro schemes.The government has set up a task force to look at all forms of renewables so dont be suprised if you find out that they have already looked at the Faughan.I have heard that they are again looking at the ROE.The point is firstly is our government really committed to the welfare of salmon or are they more worried about meeting their obligation on renewables? This clearly is a conflict of interests.So guys looks like we need to stick together on this one.All northern rivers will have to meet this one head on.

 

[TheDerg]

Omagh Anglers have had meetings with council officials and have registered their opposition to this plan.

Check www.omaghanglers.org & you'll find reports on their efforts.

This could be very dangerous for the system, & anglers really need to get a serious influence into the planning of these schemes, if they do decide to go ahead with it.

As far as I know the camowen is mainly grilse & late fish, but lets face it, in the light of this year's poor runs, can we really entertain the risk of a hydro scheme, irrespective of which run of fish it could affect?

Tell em to build a few more wind farms. They have the sperrins, & they could stick those windmill yokes out at sea.

If the foyle system was managed properly as a tourist angling mecca, the local economy would benefit better.

 

[Patrick]

Latest from Omagh Anglers
September 2008
29/09/2008

Apologies again for the website and lack of up to date articles but it is beyond my control. We are waiting on further news from the Council regards the Hydro scheme on the River Camowen. We have had a few meetings with representatives from the Council and also Fishery experts that they have brought in, and we have asked for certain conditions to be met before the work goes ahead. New plans are being drawn up and we are waiting word to inspect them. Bobby Rodgers our Chair and Shane Colgan Committee member have been to the River Dart in England to inspect a similar type Archimedes Screw and came back with a favourable report. They also brought back a dvd of the scheme showing fish actually going down the screw with no visible signs of harm. We are requesting a new fish pass at the weir in Campsie to help assist the salmon on their upward journey to the headwaters to spawn. To date this seems to have been met with a favourable response. We must wait now until the council comes back to us with further news.

 

[easky]

sounds more promising

 

[simonjh98]

The scheme has now more or less been halted thank god. Camowen is one of the biggest spawning rivers and its tributaries on the entire foyle.

In the early 2010's the Camowen was getting a count of over 4,000 fish alone. No idea now as the counter is broke!

 

[FaughanPurple]

Was it not halted mid construction after they turned it on and it completely dewatered the river bed and then crucially for the Contractors,money dried up. the screen at the screw headwas never in place either from pictures that I saw.. a ready made fish mincer was all it was.

none of the schemes proposed by HydroNI are currently operating at capacity or profit from what I know.. quite a few were never completely finished. Roe Valley park is one that comes to mind.. all of them caused irreparable environmental damage.

As for the biomass boilers, well they're just about to hit news now as well as another fraud.

Luckily the Faughan had 5 separate plants refused on the river.. the big flood in 2017 put in the final nail on the last one ?

Just a Pity the A6 construction is turning us into a mudslide now though. Never seems to end.

And jaysus, 12 years ago ?

 

[simonjh98]

Was it not halted mid construction after they turned it on and it completely dewatered the river bed and then crucially for the Contractors,money dried up. the screen at the screw headwas never in place either from pictures that I saw.. a ready made fish mincer was all it was.

none of the schemes proposed by HydroNI are currently operating at capacity or profit from what I know.. quite a few were never completely finished. Roe Valley park is one that comes to mind.. all of them caused irreparable environmental damage.

As for the biomass boilers, well they're just about to hit news now as well as another fraud.

Luckily the Faughan had 5 separate plants refused on the river.. the big flood in 2017 put in the final nail on the last one ?

Just a Pity the A6 construction is turning us into a mudslide now though. Never seems to end.

And jaysus, 12 years ago ?

Yes , this is correct. And the biggest joke is it's remains are still there after 12 years just being left to rot! I Don't think it has been completely deconstructed yet

And we certainly do not forget the politicians who were in favour of this scheme!

 

[FaughanPurple]

It wont be deconstructed..

it'll lie in a state of disrepair most likely.. thats what happens when a snake oil salesman sells you a product he knows nothing about and then leaves town with your money after putting it together without instructions saying hes away to get more parts/investors to finish the job..

the landowner is left with the tag and when he goes back to the local council who approved the planning to help with the compensation.

They turn round and say, well that councillor who helped you has gone and since it's over 5 years since it was approved we really cant help you, sorry but you'll have to pay to either finish it or get it removed your self...

I big con for EU grant money for green energy. Caused nothing but environmental damage

 

[simonjh98]

It wont be deconstructed..

it'll lie in a state of disrepair most likely.. thats what happens when a snake oil salesman sells you a product he knows nothing about and then leaves town with your money after putting it together without instructions saying hes away to get more parts/investors to finish the job..

the landowner is left with the tag and when he goes back to the local council who approved the planning to help with the compensation.

They turn round and say, well that councillor who helped you has gone and since it's over 5 years since it was approved we really cant help you, sorry but you'll have to pay to either finish it or get it removed your self...

I big con for EU grant money for green energy. Caused nothing but environmental damage

Nail on the head. There was a certain party I won't name (but they won the West Tyrone seat again this year) who were big up the hydro scheme and saw ££££ signs in their eyes. It absolutely sickens me every election time to see anglers sharing them on Facebook and still being gullible enough to vote for this party who wants to sell out their own community and environment for profit. And now they have the absolute cheek to protest the diabolical Dalradian. Absolute hypocrites.
Dalradian want to do the same thing. Destroy our environment and shift on their money back to Canada and give our local community the middle finger!

 

[FaughanPurple]

I'll name them. It was the SDLP and currently in charge of Dept of Infrastructure that's botching the A6 construction

 

[Jockiescott]

I'll name them. It was the SDLP and currently in charge of Dept of Infrastructure that's botching the A6 construction

There isn't one political party in NI can claim any moral high ground on the environment.

Our wonderful deputy first minister was the agriculture minister when the decision was made that landowners with poor ground, i.e. hill farms, would get the same payments for the land as those with good arable land, as long as the land was being used. All those wee bits of wet ground or scrub, acres upon acres of heather moorland, the real havens for wildlife, were mowed, drained and ploughed in almost over night. That single decision alone was probably more catastrophic for our environment than the A6.

 

[FaughanPurple]

There isn't one political party in NI can claim any moral high ground on the environment.

Our wonderful deputy first minister was the agriculture minister when the decision was made that landowners with poor ground, i.e. hill farms, would get the same payments for the land as those with good arable land, as long as the land was being used. All those wee bits of wet ground or scrub, acres upon acres of heather moorland, the real havens for wildlife, were mowed, drained and ploughed in almost over night. That single decision alone was probably more catastrophic for our environment than the A6.

100%

They're all at the trough

The largest illegal dump in Europe is sitting on our east bank just metres from the river at Moubouy..

The DUP were in charge of the DOE at that time.. despite numerous reports no one could find the dump..

Given who else was allegedly involved it proves sectarian politics are often set aside for the right colour of green

 

[Jockiescott]

People need to realise that the environment does not matter to politicians. The environment actually holds back the economy and infrastructure projects.

The Greens can make noise about 'Green Energy' and sound great but the irreparable damage done to the countryside and the environment in installing these schemes can never be justified for me.

Our countryside is ballsed up beyond repair because of green energy schemes and farm subsidies based on 3000 acre farms on continental Europe being forced upon 50 acre farms in Northern Ireland. The one size fits all simply does not work in these situations.

 

[FaughanPurple]

To be fair to the Green Party, locally anyway and alongside FOE NI they've been objecting to these schemes from the get go.

Probably why they cant get elected

 

[Jockiescott]

To be fair to the Green Party, locally anyway and alongside FOE NI they've been objecting to these schemes from the get go.

Probably why they cant get elected

Didn't their party leader step down as an MLA to take up a position with NI Renewables? He did in fact as I had to google it.

Every election they bang the renewables drum looking for more windfarms etc.

Moorlands being ripped up and drained for windfarms is just as detrimental to the rivers than damming them for hydros. Although most people never see, or know about the damage and just see a ghastly big wind turbine as a shining beacon of green energy!

 

[FaughanPurple]

Stepheb Agnew?

Yeah he left politics.. a variety of reasons behind it and he was a good allie asking AQs on behalf of RFA for many years..

Hopefully see the company taking a slightly different direction in the future

Biggest issue on the headlands isn't windmills it's the pine forests they planted

 

[Jockiescott]

Stepheb Agnew?

Yeah he left politics.. a variety of reasons behind it and he was a good allie asking AQs on behalf of RFA for many years..

Hopefully see the company taking a slightly different direction in the future

Biggest issue on the headlands isn't windmills it's the pine forests they planted

I think we'll have to disagree on that one.

Pouring 60 cubic metres of concrete in place of peat bog just doesn't retain the same amount of water.

Then folk wonder why spates dissappear so quickly.

I know a farmer who had to install mains water for cattle to drink as the burn from the hill dried up after the windmills were installed. His family have farmed there for generations.

 

[FaughanPurple]

It all has an accumalative effect but the forestry without doubt has had the biggest impact

 

[Jockiescott]

So the more windmills the better?

 

[FaughanPurple]

Well, depends.. in the right locations they can reduce the need for fossil fuels

 

[Jockiescott]

Well, depends.. in the right locations they can reduce the need for fossil fuels

But add to flash flooding and misery to communities downstream after the heavy deluges we seem to be getting more and more of but don't hold back enough water during normal rain.

We had almost 24 hours continuous rain since yesterday morning and the river peaked at just over 3 foot at around 10am this morning and its already dropped about 6 inches. Wind farms have a lot to blame for that.

But, the government has to be seen to be in favour of green energy regardless of the actual environmental impacts.

 

[FaughanPurple]

That's a problem yes but wind farms alone aren't the problem.. the draining of natural wet lands for EU money and then the forestry will have a far bigger impact on water getting to the system quicker than a few wind farm sites..

It all add ups and I agree the river just doesn't hold water any more but its not the sole fault of a few windmill sites...

The government doesn't care about anything green. Unless its money. Which is why anything with s grant gets pushed through