In the third of our previews of some of the motions that have been submitted to the Welsh Liberal Democrat Spring Conference we are looking today at proposals to generate power from the Severn estuary. The genesis of this motion is unique. It is the product of a series of cross-Severn policy seminars involving Parliamentarians from the South West of England and from Wales.
The other unique feature of this motion is that it has been tabled simultaneously for consideration by both Federal and Welsh Conferences. It is the sort of cross border co-operation that the Assembly may wish to replicate when it gets more powers though one would hope that it is already happening at ministerial level.
The motion starts by regretting the government’s lamentable progress towards their own modest target of 15% of energy consumption to come from renewable sources by 2020. It recognises the potential to generate power from the tidal range of the Severn Estuary but also notes that the debate about how best to harness the power of the Severn has been running for decades.
It then suggests a number of proposals that could help to utilise the tidal range of the Severn to help reach the Liberal Democrats’ own commitment that 30% of the UK’s electricity should come from clean, non carbon emitting sources by 2020, rising to 100% by 2050 with a significant part of that being generated from Tidal energy.
These include properly funding research into tidal range solutions and treating it with urgency by providing significant enabling funds for emerging technologies so as to develop a range of innovative solutions such as fences, reefs, tidal impounds/lagoons etc.
In particular the motion notes the potential of the Tidal Reef solution proposed for Minehead to Aberthaw and believes that full scale research and development of this scheme should see immediate progress. It proposes that a tidal impound should be built in the Bristol Channel/Severn Estuary as a pilot project which could provide electricity generation on demand.
It concludes that the proposal for a large barrage from Brean to Lavernock is not an appropriate solution given the huge environmental cost, the intermittency of its electricity production, and the expected completion date of around 2030, and suggests that the “Shoots” Barrage, following the line of the second Severn crossing, offers the best choice, balancing environmental, economic and speed of construction issues.
Taken together, the Liberal Democrat proposals laid out in the report produced by the cross Severn Channel seminars – A Tidal Solution – the Way Forward – on which the motion is based will provide more electricity from renewable sources than a Brean to Lavernock Barrage.
The full report A Tidal Solution – the Way Forward can be found here.
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Continuing the Discussion