It is located on the River Thames, at the upstream end of View Island and using the head of water provided by the weir at Caversham Lock.

With a drop of about 1.4 metres (4 ft 7 in) and an average water flow of 37 cubic metres (1,300 cu ft) per second, it can generate 46 kilowatts (62 hp) of electricity with its twin archimedes screw turbines.

[1][2][3] The scheme is owned and operated by the Reading Hydro CBS, a community benefit society that was founded in 2017, after some years of preparation.

Investment was raised through share offers to the local community, and the scheme was officially opened on 13 August 2021.

A third side contains a rendition of Warming Stripes, a visual representations of the change in global temperature over the past 100+ years originally created by Professor Ed Hawkins of Reading University.