Tameside Arts Centre is first in country to power their gigs with water

Video report by Granada Reports correspondent Tim Scott

A Tameside arts centre hopes to become the first in the country to power its gigs entirely by water – with the help of a team of volunteers, a recycled Segway wheel, some scrap metal and a length of drainpipe.

The Vale, in Mossley, plans to become the UK’s most eco-friendly band venue by switching to ‘homemade’ hydroelectric power.

According to Jon Mambo, an electrical engineer and musician who is heading up the team of project volunteers, a small waterfall close to the building, a former textile mill, holds the key to their future self-sufficiency.

His calculations show that a £100 homemade micro-generator placed at the top of the onsite waterfall’s two metre plunge will provide the electricity needed to power The Vale’s monthly gigs.

The team, which includes environmentalists, artists, gardeners and engineers hopes the generator will be working at its full potential in time for The Vale’s second birthday party gig in September.

Hand built almost entirely from recycled and found materials, it is powered by a £30 second hand Segway wheel.

Mambo hopes the project will also bring an annual cost saving to The Vale of £3-500 and will reduce the venue’s CO2 emissions by 100 tonnes.

“Being in Mossley, we have a strong history of hydroelectric power because the textile mills of the 19th century would have been powered by water wheels.

“So what we are doing is not new – we are simply rediscovering what we used to know.”

He said: “The power we generate from the waterfall will be transformed into mains voltage via a grid-tie inverter, the same device people attach to solar panels. This will allow us to feed our electricity into the National Grid.

“Anything we generate will offset our usage in other areas, and, if the smart-meter is smart enough, we will also receive a payback from the power company for any extra we produce.

“If the project is a success, we will scale up by building more micro generators to meet more of The Vale’s year round energy needs.

Volunteer Jane McLean-Kremer says "I've learned loads of things about engineering, things I haven't done since I was at school.

"It's really good because it's an old mill, it started off with the gardens derelict and we thought we could build something better and make life better for everyone who lives here."

Amelia Bayliss,  general manager, The Vale, said: “The people of Mossley are progressively experiencing the impacts of climate change.

"The moors around us burn with increasing frequency and intensity and rivers and tributaries are habitually bursting their banks, causing damage to people’s homes and businesses, and risking loss of life. 

“Without urgent action, what we’ve seen so far is only the beginning. Although this is a global problem which needs collective action, successful small hyper-local interventions such as our micro hydroelectric power generation can be replicated elsewhere, leading to big cumulative impacts. 

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