Severn Barrage hopes revived
SUPPORTERS of plans for a Severn Barrage claim the Prime Minister has promised to look into the details of the £30 billion project.
The idea was ruled out by the coalition in 2010 following the Severn Tidal Power Feasibility Study, for not making enough of a case for public investment.
But Peter Hain, the former Labour Welsh Secretary, quit his front bench role to become a champion of the scheme and after a meeting with the Prime Minister on the subject, said: "It was a more productive meeting than might have been expected. It's encouraging that Number 10 are taking the barrage much more seriously than has been the case over the last few years.
"Government support is an absolute pre-requisite for getting the whole project under way. Not a penny of taxpayers' money would be needed for this £30bn investment, which would be transformative for Wales.
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"At the peak of construction the barrage would create 35,000 jobs distributed over the UK. Well over 10,000 permanent jobs would be created around the estuary. There will be huge new opportunities for new leisure activities such as water sports, fishing and bird watching on both sides of the Severn estuary."
The barrage has been proposed in numerous incarnations, most recently as put forward by Corlan Hafren, from Lavernock Point in South Wales to Brean. The 18km length would also carry road and rail. A renewed scheme by the consortium plans for 800 turbines running on both ebb and flow.
Corlan Hafren says the building of the barrage alone would create 20,000 jobs, with another 30,000 created across the UK through the economic benefits, and would be funded by outside investment from Kuwait, Qatar and sovereign wealth funds, The Independent on Sunday reported.
However, there have been fears expressed over the impact on jobs at docks such as Avonmouth and Portbury, the former of which has put forward plans for a £600 million deep-water terminal, increasing its capacity from 3,000 containers a year to more than 15,000.
Mr Hain has said that around half of those jobs created would be in Wales, with special mention for Port Talbot, the former steel town west of, and outside, the barrage. It is mooted to become the barrage's construction hub but Mr Hain has also expressed hope that it could become a successful container port.
Output from the barrage is estimated to be five per cent of the nation's energy requirement, about the same as that predicted for nearby Hinkley Point C, owned by EDF.
However, wildlife groups opposed to the idea of a Severn Barrage, claim it would devastate wildlife further up the estuary, a hotbed for migrating birds from all over the world.
Earlier this year, the RSPB said the charity "wishes to see Severn tidal energy harnessed but not at the expense of important and protected wildlife".
Comments
by Norfolkian
Monday, August 20 2012, 3:35PM
“Here we go once again on a tax-payer funded and sponsored Disney ride by technical illiterates ignorant understanding of power generation. What technically competent credentials do Peter Hain or David Cameron hold to understand that power generation is all about energy density, that intrinsic quality of all materials on the earth? Well, simple answer is NONE, with degrees in PP&E or so-called Political Science.
For those with an interest in promoting the scientific method, based on one kilogramme of a any substance where air [wind] is the baseline, water has a 1,000x larger energy density for achievable scientific energy release.
Doesn't that look good until you find out that fossil fuels have 100,000,000x more releasable energy than air and thus about 100,000x more than moving water.
But sitting on top of the pile is nuclear energy which has a releasable energy density of 1,000,000,000,000x air, which is 1,000,000,000x water.
This means that for every kilogramme of water passed through the barrage to release its energy, 1 kilogramme of nuclear fuel can release 1,000,000,000x more and nuclear fission is totally carbon dioxide free in generation which will not be true for rotting organic materials caused by a barrage or for its fossil fuel backup [tidal cycle is not constant with a traditionally developed 24-hour demand profile].
You would have thought that consultancies producing reports for any government would have advised the departments of these problems, instead of quietly drawing on bureaucratic sponsorship to suggest to politicians easy-fix solutions of dubious unproven pedigree which will fall short if pursued.
No doubt the 10,000 jobs created around the estuary will be to clear up the money wasting detritus; I wonder why France did not replicate La Rance?
You saw it first here, but has anybody even given a thought to what could happen to the demand for electricity generation if we are subject, and I don't believe we are, to severe climate change resulting in temperature increases?
Instead of being complacent about possibly generating 5% of our current demand, we should be looking to the future of much greater air conditioning and refrigerating usage which will probably demand another 20-30GW of generation on top of current maximum demand of some 60GW.So what use is a tidal barrage of probably about 3 GW when 1 nuclear secure, demandable, despatchable power station is capable of 1.2-1.6 GW?
And the trend is for COLDER winters so more heating!”