News

Join us this weekend for a Midsummer Meander – our river themed celebration taking place all around West Oxford. Right across the community, people are getting creative, with over 20 locations signed up, and getting crafty in preparation for the weekend event.   Download your free map A downloadable map of the participating locations is now available online here. Please note last minute…

We were delighted to share our story with Tony Robinson as he made his way down stream as part of his latest series The Thames: Britain’s Greatest River which airs on Channel Five this evening. As well as showing him around the hydro, we put Tony to work clearing the trash screen.  The volunteer team…

We are thrilled to announce we have been awarded a National Lottery Heritage Fund grant of £9900 for an exciting heritage project, Osney Lock Hydro: Unlocking The Power of Our River. Made possible by money raised by National Lottery players, the project supports a series of community based arts projects that celebrate the links between the…

We are very excited to be one of the many community energy projects across Oxfordshire that will be participating in Project LEO – Local Energy Oxfordshire. The project has been awarded £13.8m from the UK Government Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund, managed by Innovate UK, and will be supported by £26m of private funding from the…

With still some days to go to the end of the financial year, we have met our average generation target for the year. Our annual generation target is 179,000 kWh, representing the annual target we hope to achieve in a typical year, enough to power 55 homes. However, hydro generation is very dependent on rain fall, so…

We were delighted to host a visit from the dedicated team of volunteer guides from Westmill Wind farm and Solar Park at the hydro today. It was great to have the opportunity to share our enthusiasm for community owned energy. We have already have almost 200 visitors to the site on our guided tour programme this year,…

After the occasional few hours of operation over the past month, the recent rains have filled the river and the winter generation season has started in earnest. The trash screen team are being kept busy, keeping the hydro free of branches and leaves, to ensure optimal flows.  

We were delighted to welcome almost 200 visitors to the hydro this Sunday when we opened our gates as part of the Oxford Open Doors weekend. During our two hour event 198 people took the opportunity to get on site and see the hydro close to. As well also local residents, we were delighted to welcome visitors…

The new financial year has got off to a flying start, with more than 50,000 kWh being generated in the first six weeks and bringing total generation to the half a million kWh mark. It’s great to see the hydro consistently generating near maximum output for significant periods of time, making the most of the…

Keep your eyes open for Osney Lock Hydro on your telly this autumn. We were delighted to host a film crew making a series looking at the Thames from source to sea. As well as sharing the story of the project, we got the presenter hard at work cleaning the trash screen for us. Watch out…

We were delighted to welcome delegates from the Oxford Climate Change Conference down to the hydro for a tour. The conference brought together towns and cities across the UK and the rest of Europe who are committed to tackling climate change. Its aim was to strengthen our understanding of the issues, our support for each other…

One of the benefits of being part of the maintenance team is getting to see the river in its ever changing moods. This morning was no exception with mist rising of the river on a frosty morning.  If you’d like to get involved, do get in touch or sign up to join our ‘maintenance flash mob’…