
Osney Lock Hydro: Performance
Osney Lock Hydro is predicted to generate more than 179,000 kWh of clean electricity each year. That’s enough electricity to power more than 60 typical homes.
Hydro generation is very dependent on rain fall, so can vary between 50% and 150% of the 179,000kWh average each year. An additional 6,665 kWh of green electricity should be generated annually thanks to the solar panels placed on the roof of the power house.
Although some CO2 emissions will result from the construction of the scheme, once operational this type of hydro has one of the lowest carbon footprints of all electricity-generation technologies, emitting very little or no CO2.
Hydro generation to date
Time period – by financial year (1 April to 31 March) | Electricity Generation |
First 12 months of operation (to 18 May 2016) | 143,365 kWh |
2015/16………………………………………………………………………. | 98,318 kWh |
2016/17………………………………………………………………………. | 225,137 kWh |
2017/18………………………………………………………………………. | 124,891 kWh |
2018/19………………………………………………………………………. | 194,330 kWh |
2019/20………………………………………………………………………. | 125,761 kWh |
2020/21………………………………………………………………………. | 170,882 kWh |
2021/22………………………………………………………………………. | 244,000 kWh |
2022/23………………………………………………………………………. | 104,901 kWh |
2023/24………………………………………………………………………. | 66,407 kWh |
Lifetime generation | 2,354,627 |
Generating income
Electricity generated by the hydro is sold to the Environment Agency to power their local depot. What ever they don’t use is exported into the national grid. For the first 20 years of the scheme, additional income results from the from the Feed-in Tariff. Income is used to cover the project running costs and enabled us to pay off a short term loan. It also enables us to make interest payments to investors, without whose support the project would not be possible.
Generating £2m for community initiatives
All our profits are put to use for the benefit of the community. We hope to generate over £2 million of community benefit from they hydro during its forty-year anticipated lifetime. By using this to fund projects that help reduce energy use, support biodiversity and contribute to a more sustainable future, the impact of the hydro scheme will reach far beyond that of providing green electricity.
Please note, all electricity and income-generation figures are predicted annual averages and assume the project has a 40-year lifespan.
Find us on the People’s Power Station
We are likely to be operating if the river flow is over 5.5 m3/sec at the Farmoor gauging station.

Technical
Osney Lock Hydro is a 49kW run-of-river hydroelectric generator located on the small island adjacent to Osney Lock in Oxford. It is based on an Archimedean screw hydropower system, chosen for its efficiency, robust design, low noise, and ‘fish friendliness’.