We can now add this week’s decision, by Peel Energy, to shelve their plans for an impoundment barrage across the Mersey to last year’s scrapping of plans to build the Cardiff –Weston barrage across the Severn.
Coincidence or a developing trend?
We have welcomed both decisions – but we’re not kidding ourselves that there has been a light-bulb moment that means the massive potential environmental impacts have driven a change of direction (and heart). Far from it – the shelving of the Mersey barrage is the result of the sums not adding up – and if the financial equation changes then there is a distinct possibility the sequel, Mersey Barrage III, will be in production.
Yes, III.
We’ve been here before, 20 years ago, when the proposal was dropped in the face of spiralling costs and a damning assessment of it’s environmental impact (it was a case that dominated four years of my life). The pattern is becoming familiar - twice now on both the Mersey and the Severn. Time to learn the lesson and move on – surely.
I’m relieved – but I’m not celebrating (well, not much anyway). I’m relieved because the natural environment of the Mersey (and let’s not overlook that it is a world-class coastal wetland) is under less threat now than a few days ago. But real celebrations will have to wait until this love affair with these out-dated, old fashioned impoundment barrages is over.
If one were ever built, the natural world would be hit hard. But there is a real casualty now, and that’s the lost opportunity to put the UK at the heart of developing innovative technologies that put the environment at the heart of the design to generate electricity from tidal power.
But for now the wildlife on the Mersey is still under threat. Indeed, as long as developers continue seriously to consider big barrage technology, many of our estuaries – particularly those in the North West - remain at risk from serious environmental damage.
If we want a truly sustainable renewable energy infrastructure in the UK, we need Government and developers to reject completely this outdated and harmful technology and invest instead in emerging tidal energy solutions that minimise environmental damage.
Follow me on twitter