Old water mill used to generate electricity

(5 May 2006) SHOTLIST
1.Wide Gants water Mill Somerset
2.Various Gants water mill
3.Close up water flowing
4.Set up Brian Shingler, Gants water mill owner
5.SOUNDBITE: (English) Brian Shingler, Gants water mill owner
"This is Gants mill in Bruton in Somerset, we have recently put in a a hydro power unit. It''s quite a old mill, it was a doomsday mill site so there was a mill here eight hundred years ago,although the building that is behind me now was built about two hundred years ago as a silk mill so it was a very large building, employing about two hundred girls. But we are now looking for a modern use for it."
6.Set up Keith Wheaton-Green
7.Various Keith Wheaton-Green
8.SOUNDBITE:(English) Keith Wheaton-Green, Environmental projects officer, South Somerset council
"Well I think micro generation definitely is the future at the moment historically we have got power from large centralised power stations and as much as eleven percent of electricity can be lost through the power lines. With local generation its closer to the consumer so there is little wastage"
9.Exterior Gants Mill
10.SOUNDBITE:(English) Keith Wheaton-Green, Environmental projects officer, South Somerset council
"It was quite a lot of effort for us because it was a break through project no one had really done this in the same way before, we had to get the grants the extraction licences and the environment agency had not really had much experience with dealing with projects, with small projects like this. But now we have shown the way and that it can be done its going to be a lot simpler in the future, and the technology is getting a lot simpler new turbines are being introduced that are cheaper and more efficient and the environment agency understands what needs to be done so I do not think in the future it going to be as any way as difficult as it has been for us"
11. Close up mill machinery
12. UPSOUND: (English) Brian Shingler, Gants water mill owner
" The water comes down this red pipe which is under pressure into the blue turbine and that mechanically turns the energy of the water into power and then the belts turn the generator which is mounted above and that produces the electricity"
13.Various close up mill machinery
14. SOUNDBITE:(English) Brian Shingler, Gants water mill owner
"This generator produces the maximum about twelve kilo watts at any one time and it runs continuously through out the year not producing as much electricity in the summer. Over the last twelve months we have generated thirty two thousand kilo watt hours and they reckon the average household uses four thousand kilo watt hours in the year so this is the equivalent of eight houses worth of electricity over the course of the year that it produces.
15. Diagram of mill machinery
16. Brian walking towards control panel and switching it on
17. SOUNDBITE:(English) Brian Shingler, Gants water mill owner
" Well this is the control panel that controls the turbine and automatically connects it to the national grid and if we just wait a moment off it will go, there we go."
18. Various control panel, switches and gauges
19. Power lines and Gants mill farm house
20. Exterior Gants mill
21. SOUNDBITE:(English) Brian Shingler, Gants water mill owner
22. Pan from field to mill
SUGGESTED LEAD IN
A water mill, dating back to the eleventh century, is generating its own electricity using highly efficient turbines.
The mill, in Somerset in England, generates enough electricity to power up to eight houses over one year.
STORYLINE
The power created is fed into the local and national electricity grid.

Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork
Twitter:   / ap_archive  
Facebook:   / aparchives   ​​
Instagram:   / apnews  


You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...