Monday morning, and another walk to work.
Today was a day for getting the readings for our hydro-electric scheme. We send the readings to the government (to make sure we’re not being naughty and extracting too much water) and more importantly, to the electric company, so we can get paid for the power we push into the grid.
Here are the readings for the last 18 months:
As you can see, there is a large drop in the summer, when there’s not much water in the stream. Unlike mega-scale hydro schemes, we don’t have a dam to hold back water to create a constant flow. Whatever water comes down the stream, we’re allowed to take a percentage for generation. Hence the seasonal variation, and the random-looking peaks and troughs: sometimes it rains, sometimes it doesn’t.
So whilst we’re not exactly keeping all the lights on in the rest of the UK, we are at least providing enough for 3-4 other homes.
Starting out up the old valley road track. This became disused when the ‘main’ valley road (ok, it’s a tiny lane) was built in the 1920s.
Mowed the ‘amphitheater’ meadow yesterday, getting ready for an event in July. Probably need to get some more tables..
Amazing what excluding sheep for a couple of years can do. Holly on the left, beech on the right.
