Energy recovery from the Severn Estuary, The Severn Barrage and other schemes.

A Large Elephant Hawk Moth on honeysuckle. Photo by John Bebbington 

The effect of development projects on wildlife is a major concern.

Following on from our public meeting recently  on the subject of renewable energy and the Severn Estuary, it is of interest to see that the Carbon Trust has announced funding to what it describes as the 6 most promising technologies some of which might be suitable to use in the Estuary instead of the Barrage.
Here is an extract from their web site. Click here to go to their web site.

The Carbon Trust.
Press release 2nd Feb 2010.

Six most promising technologies selected and funded to spearhead UK’s marine drive

Marine energy will be ready for mass scale deployment and an important new commercial UK industry by 2020 says the Carbon Trust, as it announces the six most promising technologies that will today receive new funding to speed up the deployment of full scale prototypes of their leading designs.
Marine energy is currently ten years behind offshore wind energy in its development, but according to the Carbon Trust costs can be dramatically reduced over the next ten years, which could see up to a thousand devices operating in the water by 2020. Today the Carbon Trust announced the six most promising technologies that will be supported with £22m of new funding.  Designed and managed by the Carbon Trust, the Marine Renewable Proving Fund (MRPF) uses new funding from the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC). The MRPF marks a new level of commitment to developing wave and tidal technologies by helping the UK’s most promising technologies to progress towards early stage deployment and accelerating the first commercial projects in UK waters.
Following a rigorous assessment process, the Carbon Trust has selected Atlantis Resources, Aquamarine Power,Hammerfest Strom UK, Marine Current Turbines, Pelanis Wave Power and Voith Hydro to receive support.  Set against a shortage of funding in the sector, the new finance will bridge a funding-gap that was stifling progress, creating more certainly around the technical performance of each technology which will trigger increased confidence in the sector.
Tom Delay, chief executive of the Carbon Trust, said:
"The UK must urgently diversify, decarbonise and secure its energy sources and marine energy could over time provide up to 20% of the UK’s electricity. Generating electricity from the UK’s powerful wave and tidal resource not only plays a crucial role in meeting our climate change targets but also presents a significant economic opportunity for the UK. Wave alone presents a £2 billion economic opportunity for the UK.”
The demonstration of full scale devices at sea is central to realising the full potential of marine energy and getting the first commercial projects in the water is critical to ‘de-risk’ the technology and attract the necessary private sector investment. This is the start of major new industry that will generate jobs and wealth across the UK.”