Giant U.K. Tidal Project May be Refloated

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Written by Martin Lynch, European News Editor for Industrial Info (Galway, Ireland) -- An abandoned €37 billion ($47 billion) tidal energy project in the U.K. could yet see the light of day following an agreement by the U.K. Prime Minister, David Cameron, to meet with a new consortium.

Welsh Member of Parliament Peter Hain, a key backer of the Severn Tidal Barrage , told the media that Cameron has agreed to meet about the project, raising hopes that it might once again get off the ground.

The Severn Tidal Barrage would be the world's largest tidal energy project, and involve building a 11-mile-long concrete barrier across the Severn estuary, stretching from Cardiff in Wales on the north to Weston-super-Mare in England on the south. The Severn has the second-highest tidal swell in the world. If it goes ahead it will be capable of contributing up to 5% of the U.K.'s total electricity needs.

However, after eight years of investigation, one of the first things Cameron's coalition government did was to pull the plug on the project in October, 2010, claiming it was going to be too expensive. During that time, the part-government funded project saw costs spiral from an original estimate of €18.5 billion ($23.7 billion) to €42 billion ($53.7 billion). For additional information see October 20, 2010, article - U.K. Sinks Severn Tidal Barrage Project.

"During Prime Minister's Questions, I asked for a meeting with Mr. Cameron over the project," Hain said. "He has since agreed and we are now fixing up a meeting, which could be next month, where I will take the consortium to see him."

He added: "There will be tens of thousands of jobs created in the construction industry and potentially tens of thousands more in other sectors".

Prime Minister David Cameron commented: "A huge amount of renewable energy could be delivered through a barrage of this kind."

The new engineering and construction consortium behind the project, Corlan Hafren, is proposing a privately funded plan for the barrage with no need for government funding.

The new plans call for the concrete wall to house over 1,000 state-of-the-art turbines -- around 800 more than the original project, proposed by the Severn Tidal Power Group (STPG). The turbines are capable of using both the ebb and flow tides to generate power.

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