The project's potential to provide 5% of total UK electricity demand from a renewable source will be examined alongside the impact on the natural environment, and social and economic aspects as well as the financing.
The study will also look at the potential for other UK barrages. The Sustainable Development Commission, the Government's independent advisory body on sustainable development, has over the last year been exploring the issues arising on tidal power - particularly in the context of a Severn barrage. The SDC's final position setting out its position and advice to Government on the tidal power from a Severn Barrage is expected shortly.
The review announced by John Hutton will be a cross-Government project, led from the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform. The Severn Barrage is the name of a number of ideas for building a barrage from the English coast to the Welsh coast over the Severn tidal estuary that have been put forward since the since the 19th century. A Severn barrage could have a capacity of up to 8640 Mega Watts and an estimated output of 17 Tera Watt Hours a year - providing around 5% of current UK electricity demand.
The Severn Estuary is one of the largest estuaries in the UK. The estuary's classic funnel shape, unique in the UK, helps give it the second highest tidal range in the world at more than 14 metres. The building of such a barrage would be a huge engineering feat, comparable with some of the world's biggest construction projects. The impacts of a barrage on the people who live and work in the Severn Estuary would need careful consideration, together with how it might affect the significant economic interests in and around the Severn Estuary.
A barrage would require compliance with a wide range of environmental legislation, including the EU Habitats and Wild Birds directives. The Severn Estuary is of National, European and International nature conservation significance - and so has been afforded the corresponding levels of legal protection. It is designated as both a Ramsar Site (Convention on Wetlands of International Importance, signed in Ramsar, Iran, in 1971) and Special Protection Area (SPA) under the EU Habitats Directive and is in the process of being designated as a Special Area of Conservation (SAC). The Estuary also comprises a series of Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI).
