RESIDENTS will get a second chance to invest in a multi-million pound hydroelectric power plant on the Thames.

The team behind Sandford Hydro will re-open their share offer in the community power plant at the end of February.

Work is already underway on the £3.2m project at Sandford-on-Thames and the Low Carbon Hun group has raised £1.2m investment.

It was initially hoping to get a £2m loan from the Charity Bank to reach its total but has decided to give the public another chance to invest.

Adriano Figueiredo, who is leading the project, said: "Now that construction of Sandford Hydro is well under way, we're creating another chance to invest in it.

"We raised some of the upfront costs in 2016 by creating a community energy share offer.

"The investment gave people a chance to own part of the hydro and earn a good financial return from their shares, paid for by the money we will earn from the 1,600 MWh of clean energy the hydro will generate every year.

"At the end of February we will re-open the Sandford Hydro community energy share offer for a limited time."

Members of investment will be able to buy shares in the project starting at £250.

Institutions can invest anything up to £100,000.

When it starts operating, which the team hopes will be later this year, the project will generate enough electricity – 440kWp – to power an average of 450 homes.

This electricity will be sold and all investors will get a regular dividend on their investment, and eventually they will get their original contribution back as well.

Mr Figueiredo said: "Entry level investments are just £250 to give as many people as possible a chance to own part of the project and share in the surplus revenue.

"Every investment is also a clear message that we support clean, community-owned energy in Oxfordshire."

He added: "It's been a long labour of love from the local community, and now we're helping them see their vision through to the end."

The Low Carbon Hub's contractors started ground works on the project in the autumn.

In November and December the engineers carried out noisy piling work to put in a temporary cofferdam - a watertight enclosure designed to allow work below the water level to take place.

This has enabled them to start work on the concrete foundations for the turbines, to be installed on the Kennington side of the weir, which is happening now.

Eventually the plant will use two enormous Archimedes screws to harness the power of the river to generate power.

At the end of last year the hub team travelled to the Andritz factory in Hungary to see their screws being manufactured.

It is hoped the share offer will open on February 28 or shortly after.

Look out for regular updates at lowcarbonhub.org