Flooding affects hydro-electricity project powering Windsor Castle

A hydro-electricity project used to power Windsor Castle has been out of action for nearly two weeks.

The power generation scheme at Romney Weir, which has two Archimedes Screw turbines, stopped working after water levels in the River Thames became too high after heavy rainfall.

No water can fall over the weir due to the high river levels, meaning no electricity can be generated.

David Dechambeau, managing director of Southeast Power Engineering, which runs the scheme, said: "When the river flow increases the water level rises which prevents the weir from producing electricity because there is no drop.

"Normally there is a drop of two metres over the weir but the river came up by three metres so there was a negative drop."

River levels are now going down and Mr Dechambeau hopes the turbines will be working again by Sunday  - as long as there is no more heavy rain.

He added: "I'm hoping to negotiate with the Enivronment Agency to close one of their gates which would help to bring the water levels back up to normal."