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U.K. Severn Estuary Tide-Power Project May Be Shelved (Update1)
2010-09-01 17:52:09.69 GMT
(Updates with details, comment about the project from
seventh paragraph.)
By Louise Downing
Sept. 1 (Bloomberg) -- The U.K.'s plan to build a tidal-
power plant at the Severn Estuary to supply up to 5 percent of
the nation's electricity may be dropped because of financing
difficulties, a member of the project's steering committee said.
Stephanie Merry, who sits on the advisory panel and
supports the project, said in an e-mail today that the British
government will likely shelve it for the "foreseeable future."
The government is planning to decide on whether to proceed
when Parliament returns after summer recess, a spokeswoman from
the Department of Energy and Climate Change said in an e-mail.
If given the go-ahead, the project could generate up to 8.7
gigawatts of electricity.
"An extensive feasibility study into financing the project
concluded that it would not be possible to finance any of the
schemes through private funding alone," said Merry, head of
marine issues at the Renewable Energy Association, an industry
lobby group. "With the present economic climate, a new public
project of this scale would be unlikely to receive support. I
hope that I am wrong."
A spokesman for the Department of Energy and Climate
Change, the government ministry that oversees renewable energy,
declined to comment. He did say officials value the views of the
Renewable Energy Association and the steering group discussing
the project.
The five proposals
At the beginning of last year, five proposals for a Severn
tidal project were shortlisted from the 10 initially competing.
The list includes three barrage options and two tidal lagoon
options. The proposals have since been subject to environmental
and economic analysis before the government makes a decision on
which, if any, to build.
A Cardiff-Weston Barrage is the largest of the proposed
projects with an estimated installed capacity of 8.6 gigawatts.
The project could generate about 16.8 terawatt hours per year of
electricity and would cost from 20 billion to 22 billion pounds
($31 billion to $34 billion) to build.
The Severn Tidal Power Group, a consortium of builders Sir
Robert McAlpine Ltd., Balfour Beatty Plc and Taylor Woodrow
Construction along with turbine maker Alstom SA would build the
project.
Generation Capacity
The Shoots Barrage and Beachley Barrage are estimated to
have installed capacities of 1.05 gigawatts and 625 megawatts
respectively. Shoots would cost from 4 billion pounds to 5
billion pounds. Beachley would cost from 2 billion to 2.5
billion pounds. The Shoots project was proposed by Parsons
Brinckerhoff Ltd.
The tidal lagoon projects would generate about 1.36
gigawatts each and cost 3 billion pounds to 5 billion pounds.
"DECC made sensible decisions in selecting the 5 short-
listed proposals, choosing 3 barrage options which involve
established technologies," Merry said. "The Cardiff-Weston
Barrage was an obvious choice, since so much work has been done
on this project in the past," she said.
It was used during the feasibility study as a benchmark
against which to measure the predicted performance of the other
proposals.
The tidal lagoon options, Merry said, were likely selected
because their environmental impact will be lower than that of
the Cardiff-Weston Barrage, with a smaller loss of habitat. A
tidal lagoon would not extend right across the estuary. Merry
said she does not favor any specific proposal at present.
'Significant Contribution'
"It is important that the government considers all sources
of electricity generation, and a scheme on the scale of the
Cardiff-Weston Barrage could make a significant contribution to
the U.K.'s electricity usage," she said. "However, the social,
economic and environmental impacts are uncertain. Once built,
this barrage will be with us forever."
Merry said her preferred option would be to build a barrage
across a smaller estuary, such as in the northwest of England,
at Mersey or Solway. Then, the impacts could be fully monitored
and understood, and procedures to mitigate environmental damage
could be developed.
"With that knowledge, we would be in a better position to
move forward (or not) with the Cardiff-Weston scheme," she
said.
Earlier this year, industry and government officials
identified nine possible proposals for tidal energy across the
Solway Firth and four plans for the Mersey Estuary.
For Related News and Information:
Most-read alternative energy stories: MNI ALTNRG <GO>
New Energy Finance top news: TNEF <GO>
Renewable energy, environment page: GREEN <GO>
--Editors: Todd White, Alex Devine
To contact the reporter responsible for this story:
Louise Downing in London at +44-20-3216-4633 or
Ldowning4@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Reed Landberg in London at +44-20-7330-7862 or
landberg@bloomberg.net
