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Open day for saddleworth hydro

PRESS RELEASE

7 February 2012

OPEN DAY FOR SADDLEWORTH HYDRO

Saddleworth Hydro is having an Open Day at Saddleworth Sailing Club at Dove Stone reservoir on Saturday 25 February from 11am – 4pm.

The Open Day will give potential investors a chance to find out more about the hydro project and talk to the Directors and hydro experts Water Power Enterprises (h2ope) in person.

“We’d like people to come and join us for a cup of tea and to have a chat about the community hydro scheme. People who’ve already invested will be on hand to share what motivated them to buy shares and we’ll be having short tours to show people where we’re hoping to site the turbine. Having a sense of what the hydro will look like and understanding where the water will come from makes the project all the more real” said founding Director Bill Edwards.

Saddleworth will be England’s first ‘high head’ community-owned hydro, using head from the 90ft dam at the Dove Stone reservoir. A 51kW turbine will be installed generating 170,000kWh/year electricity, enough to power 45 homes.  In addition to a grant by Defra and the European Agricultural fund for Rural Development, the recently launched share offer for £120K will cover the outstanding cost of the project. So far, £30K has been raised via the community share offer.

Directors are hoping to offer 4% interest on shareholdings from year two. There’s a minimum shareholding of £250 and a maximum of £20,000.  EIS (Enterprise Investment Scheme) status has been granted, so shareholders with more than £500 worth of shares can apply for EIS tax relief at 30%.  For example, anyone buying £1000 worth of shares will in fact be spending only £700. Individuals hoping to be eligible for EIS tax relief must invest a minimum of £500 and keep the shares within the company for a minimum of 3 years.