The whole question of microgeneration in Britain is surrounded by Poppycock and balderdash, with generous lashings of baloney. I have been trying for years to harness the 45KW of energy that thunders through my old disused watermill. Politicians of all parts of the spectrum commission papers, discussions and conferences on the subject. The EU is full of pious cant on the subject of schemes like this, but provide no help whatsoever to those who live in sites that have the potential to generate electricity.

The practicalities of generation using a commercial turbine are ridiculous. Even at current energy prices, payback is something like 40 years. You can get a grant, but the conditions are so ridiculous as to be beyond satire. I would have to nominate a 'community' of users to use my electricity taken from a representative sample of the community (all racial types and sexual diversity). I'd also have to conform with a vast stack of regulations and health 'n Safety edicts. Even then, there is no guarantee that the Environment Agency, a pseudo-government quango responsible for the rivers, will not take away my right to exploit my own headrace, or demand that I maintain it myself. (i.e. maintain a canal three miles long, built before AD1000)

The powers that be, from European level down to local council, are all sending each other papers and emails on the subject of microgeneration, and smugly asserting that they are 'working' hard on the problem of generating electricity in a sustainable way, but nobody has thought to turn political drivel into practical action.

I have a plan. I reckon that the roman design of horizontal waterwheel represents the cheapest way of turning water flow into rotating motion at a reasonable speed. If one couples this to a commercial generator designed for the three-point linkage of a tractor, then you have a cheap and viable means of generation. I could then use commercial batteries designed for wind generators. I'm reluctant to try, given my experience of the numbing weight of office-bound officialdom that tries to put a stop to any unfettered initiative that would show up their pathetic inaction.