A Barrage On The Severn
Posted by Big Gav in severn estuary, tidal power
The BBC has an update on efforts to build a tidal power facility on the Severn estuary.
In January, the UK government and Welsh Assembly launched a two-year feasibility study into the possibility of harnessing tidal energy in the Severn estuary in order to generate electricity. It has the second largest tidal range in the world, which could be used to meet up to 5% of the UK's electricity needs.
Two forms of technology are being assessed by the study: tidal barrages and tidal lagoons. The concepts are not new and there have been plans to tap into the river's resource since the middle of the 19th Century.
The big tidal range also makes the area an internationally important habitat for migrating birds. Environmentalists say that a 16km (10 mile) barrage stretching from Cardiff to Weston-super-Mare would destroy vital feeding sites.
The feasibility study, which is expected to conclude early in 2010, is tasked with identifying a "single preferred tidal range project" from a number of options proposed. ...
Although there are a number of proposals for tidal barrages stretching across the Bristol Channel, the feasibility study is likely to concentrate on two options.
Graphic showing the cross-section of a tidal barrage (Image: BBC)
The first is the widely reported scheme that plans to build a 16.1km (10 mile) barrage from just south of Cardiff across to the Somerset coast, near Weston-Super-Mare. The other is the "Shoots" proposal, a much smaller project that would see a 4.1km (2.5 mile) barrage stretch across the Severn at roughly the same point at the current two road crossings.
The Sustainable Development Commission (SDC), the government's independent advisers, published a report in October 2007 that examined the potential of tidal power around the UK's coastline.
The Commission's report estimated that the large Cardiff-Weston plan would cost in the region of £15bn to construct, while the smaller Shoots scheme would require £1.5bn. If given the green light, the barrage is expected to take about 12 years to build.
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