U.K. May Refloat €37 Billion Tidal Power Plan

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Written by Martin Lynch, European News Editor for Industrial Info (Galway, Ireland) -- Two years after it pulled the plug on the project, the U.K.'s coalition government has decided to take another look at a massive €37 billion ($47 billion) tidal energy project for the river Severn.

Plans to resurrect the abandoned Severn Tidal Barrage project have taken a positive turn following an agreement by the U.K.'s Prime Minister, David Cameron, to review the latest proposals. The news comes from former Welsh Member of Parliament, Peter Hain, who began a campaign to have the project reopened back in May when Cameron agreed to meet him about the project.

After that meeting last month, Cameron has instructed officials to look into the new proposals for the scheme. Hain told BBC Wales: "We had a very good meeting -- the Prime Minister promised to look into it. It was a more productive meeting than might have been expected."

The original project -- which was under investigation for eight years -- underwent numerous changes and saw cost estimates spiral upwards from an original total of €18.5 billion ($23.7 billion) to €42 billion ($53.7 billion) before it was rejected by the previous Energy and Climate Change Secretary, Chris Huhne. For additional information see October 20, 2010, article - U.K. Sinks Severn Tidal Barrage Project.

The key concern was that the project would require taxpayer investment, something the new proposals being pushed by Hain and engineering consortium, Corlan Hafren, claim will not happen.

"Number 10 are taking the barrage much more seriously than has been the case over the last few years", said Hain. "Not a penny of taxpayers' money would be needed for this £30 billion investment, which would be transformative for Wales. It would create 20,000 jobs in construction and another 30,000 in activity around the barrage."

The new plans call for a concrete wall spanning a 10-mile wide stretch of the Severn Estuary, running between Cardiff in Wales and Weston-super-Mare in Somerset, England, which would be capable of generating about 5% of the U.K.'s total electricity. The wall would 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.

In a letter written to Cameron, Hain stated: "Several sovereign wealth funds have already expressed interest in financing the £30 billion project, as long as government signals its support in principle, provides authorisation in the form of a Hybrid bill, and stabilises the electricity price for 25-30 years through a feed in tariff 'Contract for Difference', or similar mechanism. It is worth noting that after 25-30 years, when the price support drops away, the barrage will produce electricity virtually for free for at least another 90 years; this compares favourably with the life-spans of nuclear plants (35 years) and wind turbines (20-25 years)."

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