Salford scraps River Irwell energy scheme  

The local authority has pulled the plug on plans to create a hydroelectricity scheme at Charlestown Weir due to rising construction costs. 

Salford City Council launched a procurement exercise to find a contractor for the £1.5m energy project in June. 

The project would have seen the installation of an Archimedes screw at the weir, designed to turn the energy generated by the flow of water into electricity. 

However, difficulties caused by inflation mean that the project will not go ahead. 

“Due to a number of challenges that became apparent during the procurement process, we will now not be proceeding with the scheme at this current time,” a council spokesperson said. 

“We faced a significant rise in costs from the initial project estimate to the received tendered prices as a result of prevailing inflation at a 40-year high and the funding requirements for the scheme were also incompatible with a delay in construction to see if prices could adjust over time and be closer to the original budget.” 

Despite the decision to scrap the project, the authority remains “committed to tackling the climate emergency and delivering innovative and sustainable energy infrastructure projects”. 

The authority has a net zero target of 2038. 

The spokesperson added: “We would be open to revisiting the project at a future time should prices stabilise but hope to compensate the loss of this scheme by delivering a substantial increase in clean energy generation through maximising the output of our 5,000-panel solar farm in Little Hulton and solar car port programme.”