Severn Barrage plans lack detail, say MPs

Plans for an 18km barrage across the Severn Estuary lack detail, MPs have said.

The Energy and Climate Change Select Committee (ECCC) has said plans for the tidal barrage by Hafren Power “failed to demonstrate economic, environmental and public acceptability”. 

Tim Yeo, chairman of the ECCC, said that “more detailed, robust evidence” is needed, adding that committee cannot recommend the scheme.

The committee has concerns that the economic case for the barrage “is strong enough”.

Yeo added that Hafren Power’s proposal is likely to “require a very high level of support over many years through Contracts for Difference”, and that it will not be competitive with other low carbon technologies.

The ECCC chair said: “The likelihood of a high strike price over many years eating up an excessively large proportion of the funds available under the Levy Control Framework.”

The committee also states the plans do not address the concerns of industry, particularly the surrounding ports of Bristol and Port Talbot.

There are concerns the barrage proposals, which spans the Severn Estuary between Brean, near Weston super Mare, and Lavernock Point, near Cardiff, has “failed to answer the serious environmental concerns”, and how it would comply with EU legislation.

However, the report into the barrage does not rule out future tidal and marine projects in the Severn, but the Hafren proposal is “no knight in shining armour for UK renewables.”

Yeo said that alternative options exist “which may provide a lower cost and less damaging means of meeting our 2050 carbon targets”.

He added the government should consider a “more proactive approach to managing Severn tidal resources to harness its massive tidal range in the most sustainable and cost-effective way”.