2,000-year-old invention to spark new green power

A device invented more than 2,000-years-ago will be used to get a 99-year-old hydroelectric plant generating power for the National Grid again.

English Heritage will adapt screws invented by Ancient Greece’s Archimedes to bring back online a plant in the Yorkshire Dales.

Archimedes’ screw was designed to carry water upwards as it rotated, but the Linton Falls project has reversed this principle.

The river Wharfe will flow down through two screws, spinning them fast enough to generate enough renewable power for 100 homes, reported the Daily Mail.

The Linton Falls plant has been out of action since 1948, but is expected to be generating electricity for the National Grid by next summer.