Liverpool City Region Combined Authority reveals preferred location of the proposed £6bn Mersey Tidal power barrage – and its choice may go some way to allaying the fears of a sceptical local maritime industry. Tony McDonough reports
Liverpool City Region Combined Authority (CA) says it has chosen a likely location for its proposed £6bn Mersey Tidal power barrage.
On Thursday the CA said an area of the Mersey Estuary between Otterspool in south Liverpool and Bromborough in Wirral, would be the most likely location. Another option would have seen the barrage built close to Everton FC’s stadium and Egremont in Wirral.
This preferred option may be enough to appease a sceptical maritime industry in Merseyside which feared a barrage, which would include a lock system for ships, could severely impact the 15,000 annual shipping movements in the river.
Maritime is worth more than £5bn a year to the city region economy and supports around 48,000 jobs and businesses including Mersey Maritime, Peel Ports, Stena Line, Cammell Laird, ABP and Stanlow Terminals told LBN the barrage too far down river could have a “catastrophic” effect on the sector.
A barrage between Otterspool and Bromborough would mean the main Port of Liverpool, Birkenhead Docks, the cruise and Isle of Man terminals, Cammell Laird, 12 Quays and Tranmere Oil Terminal will be largely unaffected by the structure.
However, there is still a significant volume of shipping beyond the structure, including Bromborough Dock, the Port of Garston, the Queen Elizabeth II dock, the Manchester Ship Canal and Stanlow oil refinery which handles around 500 tankers a year.
So far the CA has spent around £7m developing the project but the final investment decision would have to be made by Whitehall. Given the current state of the public finances a green light may seem unlikely, especially as Mayor Steve Rotheram is already seeking £2.5bn towards his £5bn Central Station scheme.
On Thursday Mr Rotheram said: ““For as long as I can remember, people have talked about harnessing the power of the River Mersey.
“Identifying where the barrage could be built is a major step forward for a project that has the potential to be genuinely transformational – not just for our region, but for the country.
“At a time when events around the world can send energy prices soaring, we need to make better use of the resources we have on our own doorstep.
“We should be generating more of our own energy, strengthening our energy security and creating good jobs here at home.”
The River Mersey has a tidal range – the difference between high and low tides – of up to 10 metres, the second highest in the UK. The barrage would generate electricity based on the difference in water level on either side of the structure.
Mersey Tidal Power is planned to be the largest tidal range power plant in the world, generating up to 1 gigawatt of clean, green electricity for 120 years. It would create thousands of jobs during construction.
City region council leaders will be asked to rubber stamp the choice of location at a meeting on Friday, November 6.
At the same meeting they will also be asked to adopt a Regulated Asset Base (RAB) model as the preferred option to fund the project, following the completion of a Finance Model Update.
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A Regulated Asset Base (RAB) funding model is a way of paying for large infrastructure projects, such as nuclear power stations, water networks or major transport schemes.
Instead of waiting until a project is finished before the organisation developing the asset starts earning money, the RAB model allows it to start recovering some of its costs from customers while the project is being built. That reduces costs for investors and the public purse and offers stable, regulated returns over time.