Renewable energy: The tide turns

Senior cabinet ministers are pushing for Britain to be the first nation in the world to get much of its power from the tides, as part of a massive new expansion for renewable energy. The Environment Secretary, David Miliband, Welsh Secretary Peter Hain and Trade and Industry Secretary Alistair Darling want a giant
Their move is not meeting any serious opposition within the Cabinet but will spark off a furious row with environmental bodies, which say that the barrage would devastate the estuary’s wildlife.

Yesterday Mr Hain told The Independent on Sunday that tidal power was “a huge untapped energy resource” and that “the Severn barrage is a project whose time has come”.

He added: “With the huge threat of climate change, it is only through clean, green energy projects like this that we can make the necessary reductions in our carbon emissions.”

Mr Miliband said: “Generating 5 per cent of the UK’s electricity from a reliable renewable source is a huge prize, so a tidal barrage across the Severn has to be worth very serious consideration. Other environmental impacts need to be weighed in the balance but we will not be protecting biodiversity unless we tackle climate change.”

The 10-mile barrage – which is proposed by the Severn Tidal Power Group, a consortium of six major companies – would stretch across the Severn estuary from south of Cardiff to south of Weston-super-Mare. Only one such barrage exists anywhere in the world – at La Rance, Brittany – and it is less than a 30th of the size.

independent