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Proposed Schemes

Ten potential Severn Estuary tidal power options were considered in the first phase of the study.  These are:

  1. Outer Barrage from Minehead to Aberthaw: this would be the largest barrage and would make maximum use of the Severn Estuary tidal resource
  2. Middle Barrage from Brean Down to Lavernock Point: most well-studied option, known as the Cardiff-Weston barrage
  3. Middle Barrage from Hinkley to Lavernock Point: as option 2 but lands at Hinkley
  4. Inner Barrage (Shoots Barrage): also known as English Stones scheme and studied in detail by the Sustainable Development Commission
  5. Beachley Barrage: barrage further upstream, smaller generating capacity than Shoots
  6. Tidal Fence proposal: a barrier constructed over part of the Cardiff to Weston line, with open sections, incorporating tidal stream turbines to capture energy from the ebb and flood tides
  7. Lagoon enclosure on the Welsh grounds (Fleming lagoon): one of the previously studied Russell lagoons from 1980s
  8. Tidal lagoon concept: a proposal for a number of tidal lagoons
  9. Tidal reef proposal: a concept that would include floating turbines and caissons
  10. Severn Lake Scheme: a 1 km wide barrage in the same location as the Cardiff-Weston scheme designed to allow the construction of a number of additional features, including a wave farm on the seaward side and four marinas

The locations of these can be seen on the map.

This list has been identified through:

  1. Stakeholder input through our Call for Proposals. (The Call for Proposals invited interested parties to submit evidence based proposals for schemes which will generate electricity from the tidal range of the Severn Estuary
  2. Options studies by the Sustainable Development Commission in their report ‘Turning the Tide’
  3. Consideration of other strategic options which were not covered by either the Call for Proposals or the Sustainable Development Commission report

Only the Beachley Barrage option was added through ‘consideration of other strategic options’. We added this because there have been few, if any, studies of barrages upstream of English Stones (the location of the potential Shoots barrage). A barrage further upstream would generate less energy but may have fewer environmental effects than the potential barrage options downstream. Including the Beachley Barrage option in our long list of options allows us to review its relative pros and cons.

During 2007 the study assessed in broad terms the costs, benefits and impacts of potential schemes. This information was used to feed into the internal review by Ministers (held in late 2008) on whether there are any fundamental issues that mean the study should not proceed. Following the decision to continue with the study (as announced in January this year) we are now consulting, as part of our first public consultation, on which of the ten possible Severn tidal power schemes under consideration will be short-listed for detailed impact assessment during 2009. This first public consultation also covers the scope of the Strategic Environmental Assessment that is being carried out within the feasibility study and how the feasibility study is being conducted, the issues it is considering and how these are being approached.

The options proposed to be short-listed for further study are –

  • Shoots Barrage (1.05GW scheme located downstream from the new Severn road crossing with an estimated construction cost of £2.3bn)
  • Beachley Barrage (625MW scheme further upstream from the old Severn road bridge with an estimated cost of construction of £2.3bn)
  • Bridgwater Bay Lagoon (1.3GW impoundment on the English side of the Estuary with an estimated construction cost of £3.8bn)
  • Fleming Lagoon (1.5GW impoundment on the Welsh bank of the Estuary with an estimated construction cost of £4.0bn)
  • Cardiff-Weston (Lavernock Point to Brean Down) Barrage (8.46GW scheme commonly known as the ‘Severn Barrage’ with an estimated construction cost of £20.9bn)

For more information on the schemes, the evidence gathered in phase 1 and to take part in the consultation please visit - the Severn Tidal Power webpage.

© Crown copyright2009