Milwr Tunnel Hydro Electric Proposal

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Phil Ford
50.2% (Neutral)
Newbie Topic Starter

13 years ago

There was an artical in todays Daily Post 3/10/2012 about a proposal to build a hydro electric plant at the outfall of Milwr Tunnel.

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skimble
50.2% (Neutral)
Newbie

13 years ago

http://www.dailypost.co.uk/news/north-wales-news/2012/03/10/plan-to-revitalise-flintshire-s-milwr-tunnel-as-hydroelectric-power-source-55578-30500491/

At the moment it's only the fantasy of a local councillor.

martymarty
50.2% (Neutral)
Newbie

13 years ago

been on the cards for years that one

nid oes bradwr yn y ty hwn

Lister
50.2% (Neutral)
Newbie

13 years ago

Milwr needs as little attention as possible at the moment from crank green councillors. Maybe he could constuct a small waterwheel at the outfall to charge his electric car.

...Lister;~)

'Adventure is just bad planning' Roald Amundsen

staffordshirechina
50.2% (Neutral)
Newbie

13 years ago

Cuckoo...Cuckoo...Cuckoo...........

rhychydwr
50.2% (Neutral)
Newbie

13 years ago

I like it. We need a head of water. Block up the outlet. Stick in a pipe say 500 feet high to a reservoir? This head of water should generate 300K Kw according to my calculations. Enough for a village?

Cutting coal in my spare time.

Pinzgauer
50.2% (Neutral)
Newbie

13 years ago

If the portal at Bagillt was plugged (an interesting task?), you've got xxx miles of tunnel/workings/bonzoid-sized chambers etc. that would back up. Something would go pop hydraulically speaking, before if rose 500' methinks.

I would like to be about - preferably uphill, when it happens !!

:devil:

Who threw the overalls in Mrs Murphy''s Chowder ??

rhychydwr
50.2% (Neutral)
Newbie

13 years ago

Never thought of that. Should have as I did the Milwr Tunnel through trip many years ago.

Still it would be interesting to see how near the surface these old stopes go.

I expect the fishermen would lke to see the River Alyn flow again at Loggerheads

Cutting coal in my spare time.

NewStuff
50.2% (Neutral)
Newbie

13 years ago

Some people just have **** for brains.

This councillor is well known for spouting off about any topic that get's his mug in the papers, without any real research, knowledge or forethought. You can't educate Stupid.

Searching for the ever elusive Underground Titty Bar.

DDDWH CC

Trewillan
50.2% (Neutral)
Newbie

13 years ago

#10

What is stupid about hydro-power?

Is it more or less stupid than filling the Irish Sea with windmills?

NewStuff
50.2% (Neutral)
Newbie

13 years ago

#11

"Trewillan" wrote:
What is stupid about hydro-power?

Is it more or less stupid than filling the Irish Sea with windmills?

Nothing stupid about Hydro itself by any stretch of the imagination, as anyone who has eaten their butties in the Compressor room in Cwmorthin will tell you. The stupid here is the non-viability of it, in this particular place. It's pure publicity seeking, coupled with a total ignorance on any practicalities regarding the matter.

Searching for the ever elusive Underground Titty Bar.

DDDWH CC

Vanoord
54.4% (Neutral)
Newbie

13 years ago

#12

It might work if the portal were plugged and the workings allowed to fill to provide a head, but they were not designed to hold water, so if something were to collapse due to the pressure, then there would be an almighty problem that could be near-impossible to fix.

But yes, those windmills are pretty pointless 😉

Hello again darkness, my old friend...

Trewillan
50.2% (Neutral)
Newbie

13 years ago

#13

Surely a useful amount of electricity could be generated without plugging up anything.

Pipe the existing flow through a low head turbine?

The tariffs and subsidies seem to encourage windmills rather than discreet out-of-sight hydro schemes.

sinker
50.2% (Neutral)
Newbie

13 years ago

#14

"Trewillan" wrote:
Surely a useful amount of electricity could be generated without plugging up anything.

Pipe the existing flow through a low head turbine?

The tariffs and subsidies seem to encourage windmills rather than discreet out-of-sight hydro schemes.

Having worked on the civils elements of "small" hydro schemes in a few locations in North Wales I would tend to agree with you. These little hydro stations are dotted around everywhere and they just tick over unseen 24/7 due to our Welsh climate. The problem seems to me (a lay-man) that they only come on line on days where the rates are favourable.....there seems to be a lot of "predicting", gambling, forecasting and bartering between the owners, operators and National Grid. I do not pretend to understand it any deeper than that, perhaps someone else on here does, but suffice to say that the last one I worked on in Dolwyddelan apparently only runs (generates) for 4 days per week. The ROCS payments however continue to roll in. Please correct me if I have got the wrong end of the stick :flowers: :lol:

Yma O Hyd....

Trewillan
50.2% (Neutral)
Newbie

13 years ago

#15

Thank you for that, Sinker. I'm a bit rusty on the theory.

Interesting what you say about the electricity "market". An artificial system that gets in the way of the practicalities of generating electricity.

The fact that hydro schemes "tick over unseen 24/7" could be part of the problem. Nothing big and visible to earn brownie points for the politicians.

stuey
50.2% (Neutral)
Newbie

13 years ago

#16

Unless they stop pissing about with this yoghurt weaver nonsense and allowing the EU to shut down coal power stations, without building any viable alternatives very pronto, we are going to not have enough electricity for Eastenders.

The energy policy of the UK/EU is a joke.

Bloody fans......

Hydro is a better idea, but still fiddling around the edges of the problem.

RRX
50.2% (Neutral)
Newbie

13 years ago

#17

Arnt most of the Hydro Electric systems running essentially large batteries, pumping water up to reservoirs during cheap rate and then supplying power during quick surges when needed, i.e Corrie/eastenders ad breaks

www.carbisbaycrew.co.uk Cornwall's Underground Site

ChrisJC
50.2% (Neutral)
Newbie

13 years ago

#18

"RRX" wrote:
Arnt most of the Hydro Electric systems running essentially large batteries, pumping water up to reservoirs during cheap rate and then supplying power during quick surges when needed, i.e Corrie/eastenders ad breaks

No, that's Pumped Storage, like Dinorwig and Tanygrisiau.

Hydro is like Dolwyddelan and Maentwrog, i.e. the water only goes downhill.

Chris.

AR
50.2% (Neutral)
Newbie

13 years ago

#19

You probably could get a decent small hydro plant running off the Milwr outfall without blocking the tunnel, but it's not going to be anything spectacular, and certainly not a big photo-op for a media tart councillor.... I won't comment on the subsidy-farming side of things!

Follow the horses, Johnny my laddie, follow the horses canny lad-oh!

Manicminer
50.2% (Neutral)
Newbie

13 years ago

#20

You can have big turbines that only need a few feet of head as in an old mill weir style. So a small dam/wall in front of Milwr would suffice. They cost a lot to buy, but they do generate a substantial amount of electricity if you have several cubic metres of water flowing per min.

Gold is where you find it