Oxford is set to get one of the first hydro-electricity generating stations on the River Thames.

The power of the river could be harnessed to generate electricity for 12 new flats to be built at Osney Mill, near Osney Lock.

The site contains the remains of the 12th century Osney Abbey, along with part of the old mill building, which was destroyed by a fire in the 1940s.

An application to install a screw-driven hydro-electricity turbine has been submitted to Oxford City Council by the Munsey family, the owners of the site.

The application is expected to be decided by the council in the next few weeks.

Tony Munsey said they had already obtained approval from the Environment Agency to extract water from the Thames to drive the plant.

He said: “We hope to have it operating by the late summer. We expect the construction will be going on at the same time as the work on the flats and the refurbishment of the mill.”

He said the micro-generating scheme would help alleviate the risk of flooding on Osney Island.

Mr Munsey said: “We want to put it here, because the mill was always run by a turbine, until it burned down.

“But its position on this stretch of the river could mean water flow levels may be insufficient during some dry summers.”

The station will be positioned across the original Osney Mill cut.

Mr Munsey said: “The cut will need to be dredged, because we believe there may be a stone floor.

“There will also need to be some civil engineering to funnel the water into the screw.”

The turbine would be driven by water flowing from the higher level of the Thames above Osney Lock to the lower level below the lock. A fish pass – a series of shallow steps with water flowing over them – would be installed to help fish move up and down the river.

A second hydro-station could eventually be created on the opposite bank.

A similar scheme has been put forward by West Oxford’s Low Carbon group, formed in the aftermath of the 2007 floods.

The group is currently in the running to win £1m funding after being named as one of 10 finalists in the Big Green Challenge, run by the National Endowment for Science Technology and the Arts.

One of the projects it is putting forward is for a hydro-turbine at Osney Weir, able to generate 250,000 kilowatt hours of electricity a year, to meet the needs of about 60 homes.

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