National Trust logo

The 19th century stable yard

The 19th century stable yard
NTPL Zoƫ Colbeck

Friday 31 August 2012

The turning of the Screw

So London's first Archimedes Screw turbine is nearly complete!

The wall keeping the river out of the site has been broken down, so that the water can finally flow through it.


Breaking the wall down between the River Wandle and the Screw (NTPL/Caroline Pankhurst)

Then was lots of technical activity in the generator housing, then we had an exciting moment of the Screw being turned on to test it. This is a picture of it turning (we've also got a video but we won't share that just yet - let's wait for it to be turning properly....).

The Screw turns for the first time (NTPL/Caroline Pankhurst)

One of the screens in the generator housing (NTPL/Caroline Pankhurst)

The wooden capping was then fixed on top of the piles, an aluminium roof has been added to the generator housing and handrails have been installed so that visitors can look over it safely:

The wooden capping is laid on top of the piles (NTPL/Caroline Pankhurst)

The generator housing (beach hut) gets a shiny new roof (NTPL/Caroline Pankhurst)

The handrails around the Screw (NTPL/Caroline Pankhurst)

So it's almost ready, but those of you with very good memories will know that it was supposed to be turned on and generating electricity yesterday.....the only problem is that the safety cover to go over it isn't quite finished, so we need to wait to get that first. Hopefully it will come next week and we'll have a turning turbine then.


 The Screw waiting in the sunshine for its new cover (NTPL/Caroline Pankhurst)

If you want to be one of the first to see it turning, come for a tour on Open House Weekend, 22-23 September.

No comments:

Post a Comment