100-year-old Linton Falls hydro plant producing electricity once more

GRASSINGTON, England 3/26/12 (PennWell) -- A historic hydropower plant near England's Yorkshire Dales is producing electricity for the first time in more than six decades following an eight-year restoration, sources report.

The Linton Falls hydropower plant, in the Yorkshire Dales in northern England, now features two Archimedean screws that can produce up to 500,000 kWh of electricity per year.

The restoration was executed by JN Bentley Ltd., which says it had an added challenge given the historical nature of the facility.

The plant, built in 1909, was constructed to power the village of Grassington but deemed obsolete when England's national grid came into existence in the late 1940s.

The facility's disuse hadn't stopped the turbine house from being named a "scheduled monument" -- a monument considered to be of national importance by the government -- by English Heritage.

The plant is owned by the Linton Falls Hydroelectric Power Company and will supply energy back to England's national grid.