The Severn Barrage investigation

Timeline of previous barrage proposals

(Click on images for gallery)

The three existing barrage plants in operation, from left to right:

The Bay of Fundy Barrage in Canada.

The Kislaya Guba Barrage in Russia.

The La Rance Barrage in France.

2007 £81 million budgeted project for a lagoon in Swansea Bay. Brig Oubridge of the Green Party is making 'well-developed plans' for the enclosure of two square miles, generating 30MW of power.

2006 £650 million project to build barrage between Brean Down and Lavernock Point in Wales. Submitted to Sedgemoor District Council in March 2006, it proposed a 1km-wide barrage spanning the Bristol Channel, including 14 turbines and four marinas. The project would also create a light-railway and cater for passing ships with lifting lock gates and a bridge for motorists.

1996 (and 1950) The Petitcodiac River in the Bay of Fundy, Canada.

1989 The Department of Energy published an updated report (from developments made between 1979 and 1986, following the 1975 study). The new proposal included a closed barrage 15.9km long with a total installed capacity of 8,640MW and from 216 turbines.

1975 The Central Electricity Generating Board (CEGB) published a study for the Secretary of State's Advisory Council on Research and Development for Fuel and Power. From the study, the council established that a barrage 'could not be commissioned unless the energy situation deteriorated significantly in order for such a project to become economically feasible.'

1925 Interest in deriving large scale electrical power from the Severn Estuary, when an official study group was commissioned. A scheme of 800MW was investigated and, although considered technically possible, it was prevented on economic grounds.