![Pinterest](https://pinterest.com/pin/create/button/?url=https://uknews.evprotec.com/national-trust-blocks-hydroelectric-power-station-on-land-owned-by-swiss-financier/&media=https://uknews.evprotec.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/TELEMMGLPICT000314149756_trans_NvBQzQNjv4BqqVzuuqpFlyLIwiB6NTmJwSX5rhseiWKOo9p9OQ-ymek.jpeg&description=The plant would have a concrete box mostly below ground level, housing two or three Archimedes screw turbines, along with control sluice gates. Above ground there would be a small machinery house containing the main turbine, gearboxes, generators, electrical inverters and switchgear as well as control equipment for the sluice gates. The turbines would have been connected to the Thames from upstream through a channel about 180m long, starting above the layby for boats waiting to pass through Hambleden lock. Bridges would have been installed for walkers using the river towpath. The owner of the land, Mr Schwarzenbach lives at Culham Court near Henley-on-Thames and sponsored the rowing gallery of the River and Rowing Museum in Henley which is named after him. He also owns other estates and farms in England, a 10,000 acre sporting estate in Scotland and the largest country estate on the Isle of Wight. 'Disbelief and frustration' Alex Dick, the manager of the Culden Faw Estate, said: 'We received the news the National Trust had turned down this scheme at such an early stage with a mixture of disbelief and frustration. "We would like to introduce the scheme as it is making use of a natural asset to produce energy with very little impact on the environment at a time when we are facing an energy crisis. 'We are trying across the board to move away from fossil fuels so it is rather strange that only recently the Director General of the National Trust, Hilary McGrady, accused the Government of 'demonising conservationists' when the organisation she heads appears to be doing exactly the same thing here.' A spokesman for the National Trust said: 'Climate change poses the biggest single threat to the places we care for, and we believe strongly in the need to grow renewable energy and reduce the use of fossil fuels – but while respecting natural and historic settings. 'These covenants have a conservation function to protect and preserve the historic architecture and rural integri){kind=link}
Scheme on the Thames would have generated enough carbon-free electricity to power around 100 homes, while supporting climate change projects
The National Trust is blocking the building of a hydroelectric power station on the banks of the River Thames, despite the fact a Swiss financier actually owns the land.
The scheme would have generated 400,000 kWh of carbon-free electricity, enough to power around 100 homes, and any surplus income would go to a fund supporting local climate change projects.
The proposed location of the plant was Hambleden Weir, near Henley on Thames, the land around which belongs to Remenham Farm.
The farm belongs to the 3,500-acre Culden Faw Estate, owned by Urs Schwarzenbach, a 74-year-old millionaire Swiss financier.