Aberdeen Community Energy is almost 9 years old now – our Hydroversary is approaching, and we started producing electricity on 21st September 2016.
This scheme, down next to the river, beside Donside Village, is entirely run and managed by volunteers, who give their time because they believe passionately in what we are doing – creating clean, green renewable energy, at no ‘cost’ to the planet and in total harmony with the river.
We are a multi award winning hydro scheme, who grew out of Donside Village Community SCIO, and we started out hydro journey in 2014, with a couple of years of planning and getting things in place prior to the big build in June 2016.
In the past 9 years we have produced over 3.4 million kWh of renewable electricity, planted over 3,000 trees and shrubs (hydro hill is looking magnificent), removed tons of tree trunks, branches, leaves, grass and assorted ‘objects’ (plastic buckets, traffic cones, shopping trolleys, bikes, balls, plastic bottles and general ‘debris’) from the lade, to keep the otter screen clean. This is essential as any blockages in front of the otter screen stop the flow of water over the screw and prevent us producing as much electricity as we can. It’s all hands-on deck at times to clear it all out!
We have collected loads of litter from the surrounding riverside, undertaken a huge amount of ‘land management’ including keeping the river path clear, cutting back foliage, and general maintenance in and around the area.
We have given umpteen tours and seminars to universities (including international students), colleges, schools, politicians, walking groups, local community groups and really just anyone who approaches us to find out more!
On Sun 7th September, over a 2-hour event, we were delighted to be able to give tours to over 150 folk from Aberdeen, as part of ‘Doors Open’ 2025 (our first Doors Open tour was in 2017 – we were on the cover of the brochure!). It is always a pleasure to be able to do this, and we were especially glad to see many locals visiting our hydro scheme.
You may have noticed in recent months that the Archimedes screw is not turning. Please don’t be concerned, the screw is not broken. This stoppage is due to the very low water levels and lack of rain. We can only produce electricity when there is sufficient water, so it is common in the summer to be ‘off’ but this summer has been especially dry! We are all doing rain dances and hopeful for a good winter season, as October to March is when we tend to produce the most electricity. Fingers crossed we have lots of rain!
Our ‘Community Fund’ is growing, from annual profits from the hydro (whenever there is indeed a profit) – a percentage goes into the fund, from sales of our delicious honey, and from delivering paid seminars and hydro tours for universities and fee paying schools.
We are currently looking at how to spend this, in line with what people said they wanted to see down by the river during the community consultation we carried out when we were buying the land through the Scottish Land Fund. Hopefully, within the next few months you will start to see the addition of seating areas around the hydro site, and along the riverside next to Donside Village.
We are always looking for volunteers, so if you want to get involved, please email us on [email protected]
Extra hands, especially following floods and doing the ‘big clean up’ which follows these events, are always welcome.
We are currently also looking for financial support, so if anyone is reading this and has skills in financial management and wants to help out and join our team of volunteers, please get in touch and find out more, we would be delighted to hear from you.
Keep an eye on our face book page for updates and information, https://www.facebook.com/ACEnergy2016
Have a look at our YouTube page for some videos and a ‘virtual tour’ of the scheme, which we made during the pandemic, so people could still see round, even though restrictions were in place.
There is even a ‘time lapse’ video of the hydro being built, so you can watch it going up!
https://www.youtube.com/@aberdeencommunityenergy7441