A HYDROELECTRIC power plant project for the Thames at Abingdon raised more than £100,000 in a single day.

Abingdon Hydro directors now have more than 10 per cent of the £1.25m they need to build the facility, after launching the shares on Saturday.

Eager investors queued from 8am outside Abingdon Guildhall to get a limited number of 50 per cent tax rebate shares – the most profitable.

About 200 people attended a public meeting at the hall from 10am, and more invested after a question-and-answer session.

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Director Penny Clover, a tour manager from Abingdon, said: “We are thrilled.

“It was most successful and we had a huge amount of interest.”

Directors are now confident they will raise their £1.25m total to begin construction next year.

The project will see two Archimedes screws installed at Abingdon Weir, which would generate up to 100kW of electricity, enough for 120 homes.

Tim and Alison Budd, who travelled to the meeting from their home in Milton, near Didcot, said they would consider investing.

Mr Budd, a retired engineer at Culham’s JET fusion project, said: “It will be a good project for the town and community.

“Undoubtedly, we have to move away from fossil fuels and this is the sort of alternative we should be looking at.”

All investors will get a four per cent return on their investment once the plant starts generating power, which will be sold to the National Grid for £120,000 a year. That means someone who invested £1,000 will get £40 back a year.

But the directors will also be paying back all investors’ money gradually, meaning they will get a diminishing return.

In a deal to support community energy projects, the Government said holders of the first £150,000 worth of shares will get a 50 per cent tax rebate on their normal four per cent return.

Everyone else will get a 30 per cent rebate.

Private investor Alex Fraser, of Spring Gardens, Abingdon, said: “People get a warm feeling from the environmental stuff, but if you were a hard-nosed investor you would say ‘it’s not for me’.

“I’ll do some sums and think about it.”

Any profits, after paying investors’ interest and covering maintenance costs, will be spent on environmental projects in Abingdon to be agreed on by the directors.

Once all the investors’ money is repaid, the plant will be owned by the town of Abingdon.

The plans faced opposition last year when kayakers and canoeists raised concerns they would not be able to pass and anglers said it could harm fish.

Find out more at abingdonhydro.org.uk


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