Starting this weekend, two weeks of free events to inspire, entertain and be part of Reading’s journey to net zero carbon. There are still a few spaces on Reading Hydro’s joint event with ReadingCAN if you’re keen to explore what more community energy might contribute. Or view the whole programme and chose other events that […]

You may have noticed that our data pages were blank for most of last week. This was because we shut the plant down completely on January 6th and disconnected from the grid. Our operating procedures require us to do this if the water upstream reaches a level of 37.4m, to make sure that water doesn’t

The Reading Hydro murals recently featured in this scholarly article about Commando Jugenstil, the collective who created them. The murals are a fantastic talking point with visitors and passers-by of all ages, it’s great to see them appreciated by a very different audience.

Reading Hydro welcomed our oldest visitor to date last week!  Joe, aged 99, a retired civil engineer, braved the rain to see the turbines close up, and was impressed by the technical achievement and delighted by the murals. Joe visited with his granddaughter Isla McCulloch, the Standards Manager of the Community Shares Unit.  They played

The River Thames was still thundering over Caversham weir on Friday. All this water has to go somewhere and the high flow rates have increased the river level downstream of the Reading Hydro plant. This reduces the head of water and thus the power output. Thankfully the flow of over 100 m3/s earlier in the

Reading Hydro was set up to provide local renewable energy, because this cuts climate heating, cuts air pollution, and cuts the control of big energy businesses. But reducing the use of energy matters too. It brings these same benefits, and in addition cuts costs for the energy-user. That’s why we’re delighted to see a new

At 8:01 this morning, Reading Hydro had generated 500 megawatt hours (MWh) of hydro electricity! That’s enough to: This renewable electricity has helped tackle climate heating. By cutting the need for gas-fired power generation, it has prevented about 200 tonnes of CO2 from going into the atmosphere.4 Many thanks to all the Reading Hydro investors

The sluice gate problem was sorted on August 8th. Our O&M team tracked it down to a tiny check-valve that was leaking.  Generation returned to nearly normal levels, but then gradually declined. On August 12th our clearance team found the reason for this second problem: Canadian pondweed had collected on the trash screens, reducing the

You may have noticed that turbine 1 (Tony) has generated only very briefly over the past two weeks. A contractor has established that we have an internal leak in the hydraulic system that controls the sluice gate, and is looking into what needs to be done. It’s enormously annoying, since we have plenty of head

Take a walking tour of the Reading Hydro site, using the map below and our new information boards! Board 1 gives a quick overview if you have only a few minutes to spare. Have a look at boards 5 and 3 to find out how the hydro plant works and how renewable energy helps tackle