A "RUN of the mill" plan to tap Herefordshire into its own water-driven power supply is a step closer to reality. Herefordshire Council is ready to research the potential for mini hydroelectric power plants along the county's rivers.

The mill plan, with its wheel driven generators, was first revealed by the Hereford Times in February. Now the council's environment scrutiny committee has said its time to test the water.

With around £80 million a year being spent on bringing energy into the county, the council is keen to explore alternatives.

It costs a lot to get hydropower going, but it is believed there are benefits to be gained over other alternative natural energy sources like the wind and the sun - higher efficiency, capacity, and predictability amongst them.

There is a case study in south Somerset, where the district council backed a bid to produce power from the region's waterways.

The scrutiny committee wants a serious look at how that could happen here.

Earlier this year, a local conservation group, the Lugg Valley Heritage Network, announced its interest in the likelihood of hydropower plants along the River Lugg, with old mill sites being an obvious starting point.

Work on identifying these sites and the lost' network of races serving them is already underway. Up to 100 waterwheels once channelled the Lugg as a power source.

The group said that another 100 new wheel-driven generators - camouflaged as cottages or other landscape features - would provide electicity for riverside communities, or eventually even somewhere the size of Leominster - with any surplus sent into the National Grid.

Hydropower depends on fast river flows. The scrutiny committee heard that the fastest in Herefordshire were found on the Lugg at Lugwardine, the Arrow at Titley, and the Wye at Belmont. Other gauging stations showed flows elsewhere were much slower.

Members also heard that the cost of setting up hydropower schemes could be fairly high, but could fall if some basics, like old mills and weirs, were already in place.

Advances in generator and turbine technology meant that useful amounts of power could be produced from small streams.

The committee was told that the government has grant money for community hydropower schemes owned and operated on a non-profit basis - around 50% of project start-up costs could be covered up to a maximum of £30,000, with more cash coming as schemes progress.

A cost estimate for a Herefordshire scheme, based on waterways that could support it, was put at between £100,000-£200,000 excluding grants.

The cost of a study into how hydropower could happen in Herefordshire would start at around £10,000, but help could be generated from the British Hydropower Association, which was looking to study waterways in England and Wales, members heard.

Geoff Perrott, environmental co-ordinator for the Herefordshire Partnership, welcomed the enthusiasm for hydropower, but hoped it would be considered as part of an energy strategy rather than an individual enterprise.