Helen Blenkharn, Climate Change Policy Officer
It’s back again!
The Severn Barrage, which has been proposed by countless developers since the end of the 10th century, is back on the cards, with a new proposal for a £25bn scheme from Hafren Power. The proposal is on the front page of today’s FT and the Energy and Climate Change Committee is holding an inquiry into the scheme.
There's been a long line of Severn barrage proposals - this one from 1849
I know what you’re thinking - surely the Government’s own multi-million pound feasibility project has only just finished, how can we already be dealing with another proposal?!
This feasibility project concluded, after all, that the project was too expensive, and would cause the loss of up to 1/3rd of the entire intertidal habitat in the area. It would reduce the populations of up to 30 bird species, and severely affect fish populations with local extinctions and population collapses. And the Severn is an important place for nature, recognised through a host of site designations.
Hafren Power is, however, suggesting that its scheme would not be as damaging. We hope they’re right, because ultimately we would like to see the massive renewable energy resource in the Severn exploited, so long as it is done in harmony with the natural environment. That’s why we will approach these plans with an open mind. However, we are deeply sceptical, as this is just the latest in a long line of barrage proposals; and each time they have fallen partly because of cost and complexity but also because of the huge potential impacts on wildlife and flood risk.
One of the other key findings of Government’s own feasibility project was that there are a range of promising innovative renewable energy technologies that could be used in the Severn with potentially smaller environmental impacts. Ideas about how to harness power from the Severn while reducing risks to the environment and to other uses of the estuary have since continued to develop. A partnership of organisations in the South West recently published this report for a multi-technology approach – but they need more support.
So perhaps it’s time to put our collective effort behind these innovative solutions, rather than wasting more time and effort on yet another barrage proposal. How do you think we should harness the power of the Severn and its estuary?
The Severn Barrage scheme has many weaknesses. It is not scalable, so you get no energy return until the whole thing is built; whereas tidal turbines would produce energy immediately from each one deployed. A barrage is also a linear row of turbines while tidal turbines can be extended over an area which implies more efficiency. Also, as sea levels rise over the coming decades and centuries, the barrage will be less efficient since it relies on the head of water; any alternative would be more flexible. The Severn Barrage is a typical glamourous large scale project that seems like a good idea until you think about it and compare it with alternatives.