Tidal Energy Projects (Hansard, 27 March 1985)

§ Mr. David Hunt

The current study of a Severn barrage, jointly funded by Government and the Severn Tidal Power Group, is to establish the technical and financial viability of a private sector barrage from Brean Down to Lavernock Point.

I have recently received a proposal from the Severn Tidal Power Group, jointly with Wimpey Major Projects, to extend the group's current study to include a barrage at the English-Stones line which is just downstream of the existing Severn bridge.

The proposed extension to the study will cost an additional £220,000 and the expanded group have asked for a 50 per cent. contribution from the Government. I have decided that it would be worth while to carry out the proposed study, and subject to agreement on the terms and conditions of contract, matching funds will be provided from my Department's non-nuclear R and D budget, up to a total of £110,000.

Although the STPG has completed most of its work on the Brean Down to Lavernock Point barrage, the report will now include an examination of the technical and financial viability of a private sector barrage on the English-Stones line and a comparative analysis of both barrages. The final report should be available by the end of the year.

Financial support for this extended study will be given on the understanding that there is no Government commitment beyond the study.

The Severn Tidal Power Group, comprising Sir Robert McAlpine and Sons, GEC Power Engineering, Taylor Woodrow Construction, Northern Engineering, and Balfour Beatty will now include Wimpey Major Projects Ltd., representing Wimpey/Atkins, and W. S. Atkins will carry out part of the study on the English-Stones line. I am pleased that this development has made this latest initiative on the Severn barrage possible.

In addition to the extension to the Severn study, I announced to Parliament on 11 March that I had agreed in principle to make a contribution towards funding a £40,000 study of a Mersey barrage to refine cost and engineering estimates. I have decided that my Department will provide up to about 20 per cent. of the cost of the study.

227W

In January 1984, Binnie and Partners were asked by my Department to undertake a preliminary study of small-scale tidal energy. Specific sites were examined as a means of reaching a view of the potential of this resource and to identify factors affecting the energy output and cost of energy from small tidal sites. Copies of the Binnie reports are being placed in the Libraries of the Houses of Parliament.