RATHER LIKE THE MYTHICAL MIGRATION OF LEMMINGS OVER THE CLIFF, EVER FEW YEARS THE VAST AREA OF TIDAL RANGE OF THE RIVER SEVERN IS VIEWED WITH HUNGRY EYES AND THE PROPOSAL FOR ANOTHER GRAND TIDAL BARRAGE IS CONSIDERED.
IT IS TRUE, THE SEVERN ESTUARY, THE LARGEST ESTUARY IN THE UK OUT OF 133 RECORDED, WHICH ALSO HAS ONE OF THE LARGEST TIDAL RANGE LEVELS ALSO IN THE UK, CONTAINING VAST AMOUNTS OF POTENTIAL RENEWABLE ENERGY THE UK BADLY NEEDS TO STOP THE GROWING ENERGY IMPORTS TO THE UK BECOMING A POLITICAL FOOTBALL.
SO WHY HAVE THE DOZENS OF SEVERN TIDAL BARRAGE SCHEMES, SOME OVER 100 YEARS AGO FAILED TO MATERIALIZE? (1921 HAD A SIMILAR SCHEME ILLUSTRATED IN THE POPULAR MECHANICS MAGAZINE).
OVER THE YEARS, ENGINEERING HAS IMPROVED, BETTER UNDERSTANDING OF THE ENVIRONMENT IS KNOWN AND THE NATIONAL GRID SYSTEMS ARE CLOSE BY ( AS WELL AS A DIRECT ENERGY CONSUMPTION NEED BY THE LOCAL STEEL INDUSTRY)
SO WHY HAS AT LEAST ONE OF THE DOZENS OF PROPOSALS NEVER BEEN ACCEPTED AND WHY SHOULD THE UK GOVERNMENTS SPENDING SEVERAL MILLIONS £GBP ON THE LARGE NUMBER OF REVIEWS AND STUDIES REQUIRED TO TAKE THINGS FORWARD.???
THE ANSWER IS SIMPLE.
WHILE THE POSSIBLE ENGINEERING AND ENERGY REQUIREMENTS MAY CHANGE, THE CLEAR AND BASIC PROBLEMS OF USING BARRAGE PRINCIPLES AT THE SEVERN ESTUARY REMAIN THE SAME AND WILL NEVER CHANGE.
DUE TO THE VERY HIGH SOIL SUSPENSION IN THE ESTUARY WATERS PRODUCED FROM THE UPSTREAM SOURCES OVER THOUSANDS OF YEARS, PRODUCING VAST MUD FLATS ALONG THE LENGTH OF THE ESTUARY, ANY MAJOR TIDAL BARRAGE SYSTEM WOULD, BY IT'S VERY NATURE OF WATER CONTAINMENT FOR PERIODS, PROVIDE MUD SETTLEMENT AND WOULD SOON REQUIRE MUCH EXPENSIVE DREDGING OUT OF THE CONTAINMENT AREAS.
THE CABOT INSTITUTE REPORT OF 2018 EXPLAIN THIS BASIC PROBLEM IN DETAIL.
ANOTHER BASIC ISSUE WITH THE STANDARD TIDAL BARRIER IS THAT TO PRODUCE THE MAXIMUM AMOUNT OF RENEWABLE ENERGY THE STANDARD BULB TYPE TURBINES ARE SITED AS LOW AS POSSIBLE AND WOULD OPERATING IN THESE HIGHLY MUDDY CONDITIONS.
IN 2020, HALES WATER TURBINES LTD HAD A MEETING WITH THE MINISTER OF STATE FOR BUSINESS, ENERGY & CLEAN GROWTH, KAWASI KWARTENG MP AND EXPLAINED AND PROVIDED FIGURES TO SHOW THE THE HALES TIDAL STREAM TURBINES IN TIDAL FENCE CONFIGURATION WOULD SUFFER NONE OF THE PROBLEMS OF THE TIDAL BARRAGE, PRODUCE NONE OF THE RESTRICTION OF SUSPENDED MATERIALS TO REQUIRE DREDGING AND WOULD BE ABLE TO PRODUCE 286 MWs OF RENEWABLE ENERGY PER SQUARE KILOMETRE OF THE ESTUARY USED WITHOUT DETRIMENT TO WILDLIFE.
THE MINISTER WAS VERY IMPRESSED AND PASSED THE INFO THE THE BEIS DEPARTMENT BUT NO DEVELOPMENT AID TO THE COMPANY TO HELP FURTHER RESEARCH HAS BEEN FORTH COMING, SO THIS TIDAL BARRAGE CONCEPT CYCLE WILL CONTINUE.
PAUL HALES
DIRECTOR
HALES WATER TURBINES LTD.
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