PLANET ENERGY, A SUBSIDIARY of German eco-power supplier Greenpeace Energy, plans to build a 4MW plant on the river Weser at Hemelingen.
The plant's 32GWh/year output will be marketed under Germany's renewable energy law. The US$16M funding needed for the scheme will be raised from local banks and individuals.
Planet Energy is developing the plant, which could be expanded to 10MW capacity in a second stage, after the Bremen municipal utility abandoned a similar scheme as uneconomic.
Meanwhile, southwest German power utility Energie Baden-Württemburg (EnBW) has purchased four hydro plants, and a stake in a further ten run-of-river and pumped storage plants, from the Lonza group of Switzerland.
