ANDREW SWIFT.qxp_Layout 2 24/03/2022 09:48 Page 1
Harnessing the power Some 12 years after the government dashed plans to build a 10-mile energy-generating barrage across the Severn estuary, which has the second largest tidal range in the world, the proposals are back on the agenda. Andrew Swift investigates...
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n the evening of 28 November 1881, when electricity was still a novelty, Professor Sylvanus Thompson delivered a lecture extolling its benefits at Bristol Museum. The hall was packed, and, as he turned to the question of how it could best be generated, his audience’s attention must have quickened when he told them that “the rapid currents of the River Severn” were a “practically unlimited” source of power. “A tenth part of the tidal energy in the gorge of the Avon would light the city of Bristol,” he continued, while “a tenth part of the tidal energy in the channel of the Severn would light every city; and another tenth part would turn every loom and spindle and axle in Great Britain.” Intriguing though the idea was, the challenges posed by attempting to tame the Severn tide meant that it was not until 1919, 38 years later, that the Board of Trade commissioned a report into its feasibility. Out of this came a detailed proposal for a 2½ mile barrage across the estuary from Redwick to Sudbrook, near where 34 THE BRISTOL MAGAZINE
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APRIL 2022
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No 209
the Second Severn Crossing now stands. It would not only be able to provide all the electricity within a 30-mile radius, but have enough left over to supply London and the next five biggest cities in the country. The problem was that it would cost £25m to build, and, with vast reserves of coal in South Wales and no concerns about global warming, the sums just didn’t add up. Since then, especially when energy prices have risen sharply or supplies have been threatened, the idea has continued to resurface, only to be kicked into touch when the panic has subsided or the costs have been taken into account. It is no surprise, though, that, in the light of recent events, it is back on the agenda again, this time courtesy of the newly-formed Western Gateway Partnership, a coalition of politicians and business and public sector leaders from Swansea to Swindon. At its first conference last month, the partnership announced the setting up of a commission to look again at whether the time is right to harness the power of the Severn to generate clean, sustainable
