THE prospect of Lydney ever coming close to energy self-sufficiency by the use of local water or wind power is pie-in-the-sky, says engineer and historian David Bick.

The well known Newent author says he is reluctant to pour cold water on the schemes being proposed by the Severn Wye Energy Agency but the facts do not measure up to close scrutiny.

Responding to last week's Review story about a plan to supply Lydney with hydro-electricity from the water pouring from the old Norchard mine workings, Mr Bick said he did did not know whether to laugh or cry.

"I would really like to believe such a scheme could work but the facts do not stack up," he said.

"The fact is that this source (the Norchard) would barely produce enough to power a lawn-mower, as any qualified engineer could tell you. To get really useful energy, a very high flow rate is vital, or else several hundred feet of head to give a high pressure. Norchard has neither of these, and nor has the flow from the River Lyd," he said.

For confirmation, he says, power can be worked out by a simple formula where Q is the flow in cubic feet per second and H is the head of water measured in feet.

"Assuming the turbine and generator are 75 per cent efficient overall, the kilowatts available are as follows: Kilowatts = 0.063 QH. As an example, if the Q is 10 cubic feet per second, and the head is five feet, the power works out at 3.1 kilowatts – hardly enough for a single house at peak demands, far less the whole of Lydney!

"Of course my figures may be pessimistic, but I do not think they are wrong enough to alter the outcome to any great degree.

"Sadly, power from natural sources around Lydney is simply 'pie-in-the-sky'," he said.

Mr Bick said the only real hope would come from a Severn Barrage which would light up half of southern England... "but I am afraid environmentalists have put a stop to that."

And he also dismissed the prospect of cheap power from wind turbines – a scheme being talked about for the Severn shore at Lydney.

"They are fine when gales are blowing, but how often is that? I am sorry to sound so negative about these schemes, but unfortunately all the enthusiasm in the world cannot change the basic laws of science," he said.