Wave and tidal power

• Severn barrage proposal

Severn barrage proposal

The Severn Estuary is prized for its value for wild birds particularly in winter and on migration

The Welsh Assembly Government (WAG) submitted a Memorandum for Energy Policy in Wales to the DTI on 24 April 2006, in which it set out its energy policy strategic themes for Wales.  

Included under the heading 'Key Wales Options', WAG revived the long-standing proposal for a tidal electricity-generating barrage across the Severn Estuary, and has suggested that it is now ‘appropriate to re-examine the Severn Barrage proposals in depth’.

The RSPB does not share WAG's view that a re-examination of the Severn Barrage is now appropriate. We believe the available evidence to be so heavily weighted against the Severn Barrage, that there is nothing to be gained from such re-examination.  

We believe the available evidence to be so heavily weighted against the Severn Barrage, that there is nothing to be gained from re-examination

The 2003 Energy White Paper concluded in relation to a Severn barrage that ‘such schemes have a very substantial impact on the local and regional environment and are very expensive’. We do not believe that anything has significantly changed since 2003 to justify a new review.

The concerns of the RSPB can be summarised as follows:

• The likely major negative impacts of a proposed Severn barrage on the natural environment and ecology of the Severn Estuary. A barrage would have a very serious impact upon sites of international importance for birds and other wildlife, including sites protected under EU environmental legislation.
• Construction of the Barrage would be damaging and disruptive to the environment of the Estuary and embody a significant amount of carbon.
• Both the cost of construction and the cost of renewable electricity from the Barrage are likely to be significantly higher than the cost of readily available alternative sources.

For more information on the RSPB's reservations about the proposal for a Severn barrage, please read our submission to the Department for Trade and Industry - The RSPB view on the Severn barrage.

Last modified: 09 August 2006

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