Osney Lock Hydro is the first community-owned hydro scheme to be built on the Thames. Set on the banks of the river Thames at Osney Lock, opposite the site of Oxford’s first electrical power station, it is one of only three sites suitable for hydro generation in the city. Building work started in the summer of 2013, with electricity generation starting in May 2015.

The Osney Lock Hydro group want to harness the power of the river to generate green energy and reduce their community’s carbon emissions. The hydro will also create a sustainable income stream to fund environmental projects well into the next half of the century.

The hydro is now fully operational, generating clean green electricity. Osney Lock Hydro is predicted to generate more than 179,000 kWh of clean electricity annually. That’s equivalent to the electricity used by 55 homes.

In 2022, Osney Lock Hydro became part of West Oxford Community Renewables.