Chris Huhne said the scheme’s costs were “excessive” Plans for a 10-mile barrage across the Severn estuary to generate renewable electricity from the tides have been dropped by the UK government.
Energy Secretary Chris Huhne said the scheme’s costs were “excessive”.
Mr Huhne said other low carbon options represented a better deal for taxpayers and consumers.
Shadow Welsh Secretary Peter Hain earlier said scrapping the barrage plan would be “equally disastrous” for the economy and the environment.
The Severn Tidal Power feasibility study conclusions, published on Monday, found there was no strategic case for major public sector investment in a large-scale energy project in the Severn estuary at this time.
It would be very costly to deliver and very challenging to attract the necessary investment from the private sector alone, the study said.
The study showed that a tidal power scheme in the estuary could cost in excess of £30bn, making it high cost and high risk in comparison to other ways of generating electricity.
“The study clearly shows that there is no strategic case at this time for public funding of a scheme to generate energy in the Severn estuary”
Chris Huhne Energy Secretary
The report did recommend that a Severn tidal project should not be ruled out as a longer term option if market conditions change.
But it noted significant uncertainty over complying with regulation and that a scheme would fundamentally change the natural environment of the estuary.
The Department of Energy and Climate Change also announced eight sites it considered suitable for new nuclear power stations to be built, including at Wylfa, Anglesey.
Commenting on the report Mr Huhne said: “The study clearly shows that there is no strategic case at this time for public funding of a scheme to generate energy in the Severn estuary.
“Other low carbon options represent a better deal for taxpayers and consumers.
“However, with a rich natural marine energy resource, world leading tidal energy companies and universities, and the creation of the innovative Wave Hub facility, the area can play a key role in supporting the UK’s renewable energy future.”
Mr Hain said the change of heart marked a “terrible day for Wales” but environmentalist group Friends of the Earth Cymru (FOE) welcomed the decision.
The 10-mile long tidal barrage would have been built between Lavernock Point near Cardiff, to Brean Down near Weston-super-Mare.
Supporters of the project argued it could have generated up to 5% of Britain’s electricity – equivalent to two nuclear power stations.
The barrage scheme has been scuppered because the government has said it will not put any public money into it, and without public money no developer has the certainty to develop it.
My government sources say it might make a comeback in the 2020s or 2030s, but certainly not for the time being because they do not think it represents the best value for money.
There were three reasons why the barrage was turned down. Firstly, environmentalists are heavily split over it, and pressing ahead with such a controversial scheme without the wholehearted support of the green lobby, which is championing renewable energy, would have been politically risky.
Secondly, they felt that wind power offered much better value for money.
The third reason was that this was such a big barrage, and such a one-off scheme, that there would not be much learning from it that anyone else could apply elsewhere. If there had been a small barrage proposed, and I suspect there will be soon, then the government would have been far more likely to back it on the grounds that there would be learning.
But those opposed to it, including FoE and the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB), have always argued it would have an irreversible impact on the wildlife of the Severn estuary.
Mr Hain said: “This is a decision that is equally disastrous for the Welsh economy and our environment.
“Not only is Chris Huhne turning his back on the proposed barrage scheme that would have created hundreds of good quality green jobs for Welsh people, it appears that he decided to abandon in its entirety the idea of using the Severn Estuary as a generator of electricity.”
He said the UK government had “decided to shift their attention, but minimal funding” to technologies which “may not deliver a single kilowatt of clean energy in the foreseeable future”.
Mr Hain accused the coalition government of hiding behind cost, arguing the scheme would have been privately funded, with the only public cost related to planning.
“It is a terrible day for Wales and demonstrates once again how little regard this Government has for the Welsh people,” he added.
Dr Rob Kirby, an independent expert on the Severn Estuary, who has worked on the project for the last 40 years, said the u-turn was down to “environmental fundamentalism”.
“We have long argued that the Cardiff to Weston-super-Mare Severn barrage would have been too costly in both financial and environmental terms”
Gordon James Friends of the Earth Cymru
He added: “It’s quite unambiguous – the Cardiff to Weston (barrage) can only benefit the environment and those who say otherwise are not telling the truth.”
News of the expected announcement had been welcomed earlier by FoE Cymru director Gordon James.
He said: “We have long argued that the Cardiff to Weston-super-Mare Severn barrage would have been too costly in both financial and environmental terms, and that better options exist to harness this important source of clean energy.
“The costs of construction would very likely have risen from the estimated £22bn while it would have caused irreversible damage to wildlife sites that are meant to be protected by law.
“This could have resulted in prolonged legal challenges that would have further delayed a project that would not have delivered the clean energy we so desperately need for over 20 years.”
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