Planning permission for Ynni’r Ocar!

After a bit of back and forth with Gwynedd Council responding to questions on the planning application planning consent was granted on the 6th November 2018!!

We have also just received our grid connection offer from Scottish Power Energy Networks (SPEN) and thankfully their quote for the substation we’ll need to connect to the national grid is now a bit lower than previously though still not cheap. We now have two of the three main consents for the hydro. The missing bit is the Abstraction License from Natural Resources Wales and we are assured this is 75% done and should only take a few more weeks.

We hope to be able to benefit from the feed in tariff (FIT) which currently provides a 6.46 p per kWh incentive payment. However, the scheme is closing in April 2019 and to qualify we need to pre-register by the end of March. We are on schedule to meet this deadline and are busy negotiating assistance with costs of further preparatory work and a bridging loan for the down payment required for the grid connection from the Welsh Government Energy Service administered by the Energy Saving Trust.

Look out for news over the next few months, and the exciting opportunities for individuals in our community to be a part of this.

Ynni’r Ocar – August 2018

It’s been a long haul since the community consultation on the Galedffrwyd hydro early last year but we have finally reached the next step in the process:

An application for full planning consent for the hydro was submitted to Gwynedd Council on the 19 July 2018. The 21 day consultation period on the application opens on the 2 August  and closes on the 23rd August with the decision  due on the 12th September. The reference number for the application is C18/0657/16/LL and the full documents can be viewed on the Gwynedd Planning portal Track & Trace. We have been advised that the Planning office will accept submissions after the 23rd until the 12th Sept in view of current difficulties with the online planning portal. You may also view the documents in the Caernarfon Planning office by prior arrangements with the Planning Service.

In February 2018 we submitted an application to NRW for an Abstraction license – in addition to the surveys provided we have been asked to prepare a Cumulative Impact Assessment of the hydro intake on the hydro-morphology of the river in respect to the other man-made structures already present. We have just secured funding for this and the required report will be prepared by the end of September.