The largest hydro in the UK to be entirely community-owned has received fresh finance from Triodos Bank UK and the Scottish Investment Bank.

The Morvern Community Development Company will now progress with the hydropower scheme on the Barr River near Loch Teacuis, Morvern in Lochaber, Scotland, that, once installed, will produce 1.6MW of capacity.

The community has been exploring the potential for a shared-ownership hydropower scheme since 2013. Now this new finance will help with the construction and operation of the hydropower scheme by MorVolts, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Morvern Community Development Company (MCDC), a registered charity that aims to benefit the community of Morvern.

£6.49m of funding has been secured in total for the project, made up of a £4.26m Triodos Bank loan and £2.23m from the Energy Investment Fund, which is administered by the Scottish Investment Bank on behalf of the Scottish Government.

Philip Bazin, environment manager at Triodos Bank UK, said: “This is a great example of a community energy project – bringing people and organisations together to do something for both people and planet. It is encouraging to have success stories like this right now of people coming together to overcome the challenges brought about by the current crisis.”

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