Severn Tidal Power



Abstract

This report discusses the prospects and potential of a construction of Severn Barrage in the Severn estuary in England. The report aims to discuss the feasibility of the project parallel to the benefits and funds required and benefits of the project. The project will be beneficial in meeting 5% of the UK's electrical power needs, but it requires significant investments and cost of ecological life.

Executive Summary

The report, written for 10 NGOs including WWF, the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) and the National Trust, indicates that the project initiators cannot justify the Severn Tidal Power project by saying it is an inexpensive option. It takes a lot more evidence for the construction of a large dam in the Severn Estuary in England is an attractive option. The British government, seeking ways to meet its objectives and those set by the European Union in reducing emissions of greenhouse gases and renewable energy, announced last September a feasibility study on the dam.

According to the government, such a dam could provide about 5% of the power to England. This could be very important as part of the objective of the European Union in terms of energy, the 27-nation bloc must generate 20% of their electricity from renewable sources of electricity by in 2020. England has also set a goal to get about 15% of its electricity from renewable sources of energy. These objectives combine to make the country will get 40% of its electricity from some renewable sources of energy within the next twelve years, whereas currently Britain produces only 4% of its electricity from such sources of electricity and mainly of wind energy.

Severn Tidal Power

Introduction

It has been proposed to the government of UK to build a dam in the Severn estuary in western England, which can generate clean electricity through the force of the tide (tidal power). However, according to a study, the project does not make economic sense and should not be built. The study indicates that the cost of 15 billion pounds estimated for the construction of the Severn barrage of 16 km was much higher than the cost of existing renewable energy sources such as solar, hydro or wind. The tidal energy comes from the movement of water created by the tides, caused by the combined gravitational forces of the Moon and Sun. It is used either as potential energy - rising sea level, either in the form of kinetic energy - tidal currents. Even using the most conservative estimates of costs, the dam is one of the more expensive existing to produce clean energy (Morris, 2006). Stressing the negative message, the report states that it has reached its conclusions without taking into account the local environmental impact of the dam on one of the ecologically fragile areas of England.

Discussion

The inherently renewable and plentiful resource that is marine energy is central to the news. The sea is always moving and there is a need for marine energy. Marine energy falls into four main strands (Jones, ...