Severn Estuary Could Accommodate Tidal Lagoon Instead of Barrage

City Councils of Bristol, Sedgemoor, West Somerset and Cardiff will submit an application for a GBP 3 million grant to the European Union, which would allow financing the development of a tidal lagoon in Severn Estuary.

Specifically, the EU funds would be used to finance a feasibility research.

So far, the Estuary’s tidal potential was mostly related to a plan to build a tidal barrage. However, the UK House of Commons’ Energy and Climate Change Committee refused the proposal last year, stating that the tidal barrage was “unproven”.

“We’ve got this great geographic anomaly which is the second highest tidal range in the world and the highest tidal range with over a million people on both sides of the estuary. Let’s use that to our best advantage,” BBC cites Bill Edrich, from Bristol City Council.

Although the plan for building a tidal barrage is still on the map, according to Peter Kydd, chairman of the South West Marine Energy Park, tidal lagoons would be a more feasible solution for utilizing tidal energy from the Severn Estuary than a barrage.