Metro Mayor Steve Rotheram pushes on with £6bn Mersey Tidal barrage project despite serious concerns about the impact on shipping in the river and little sign the Government is prepared to pay for it. Tony McDonough reports
Metro Mayor Steve Rotheram has signed a new international agreement as he pushes on with plans for a £6bn Mersey Tidal Power barrage across the River Mersey.
Despite serious concerns from the Liverpool city region maritime sector about the potential impact on shipping movements in the river and little sign the Government is prepared to pay for it, Mr Rotheram is determined to push on with the project.
In the last few days he has extended what he describes as a “successful and productive” collaboration with the Korean operators of the world’s largest tidal power scheme.
A Memorandum of Agreement with K-Water, operators of the Sihwa Lake Tidal Power Plant, was first signed three years ago and is helping shape Combined Authority plans to harness the tidal power of the River Mersey.
A two-year extension was signed by the Mayor, Combined Authority chief executive Katherine Fairclough, and Jang Byeong-hoon, executive vice-president of K-Water.
Generating up to a gigawatt of clean, predictable, electricity, with low production costs, Mr Rotheram claims Mersey Tidal Power would create thousands of jobs and operate for 100 years.
LBN revealed in July that one of the possible locations considered for the barrage is close to Everton’s new stadium at Bramley-Moore Dock on the Liverpool side across to the Egremont district of Wallasey in Wirral.
At between four and 10 metres, the Mersey Estuary has the second-highest tidal range (the difference between the lowest and the highest tides) in the UK. It is second only to the River Severn, making it ideal for a tidal power scheme.
Water from the high tides would be released through turbines as the tide falls, generating power. It would have a capacity of up to 1GW. Currently the UK’s entire power generating capacity totals around 75GW.
This structure would include a pedestrian and cycleway linking the two sides of the river. It will also include lock gates to allow shipping to pass in and out of the river and this is where the maritime sector has “major concerns”.
There are around 15,000 shipping movements in and out of the estuary each year with both commercial and passenger vessels operating 24 hours a day, 365 days of the year. It is feared the locks would cause significant delays to vessels.
Not only would that be a threat to current operations but could also pose a threat to future investment, business leaders claim. One industry insider told LBN in the summer: “This could lead to us losing future investment and jobs, something the Mayor says he wants to support.”
Signatories to the letter sent to Mr Rotheram include Port of Liverpool owner Peel Ports, Birkenhead shipyard Cammell Laird, Peel Ports Logistics, Stena Line, Isle of Man Steam Packet, UM Terminals, Exolum, NW Trading (Logistics) and Finsa UK.
In a statement the Combined Authority insisted it was “working closely with partners across the maritime sector to make sure those interests are safeguarded”.
The agreement with K-Water has already played a key role in developing the Mersey Tidal Power programme.
There have been “detailed technical exchanges” with K-Water and the lead contractor for the Sihwa Lake tidal plant, Daewoo E&C. These have provided an in-depth understanding of how the world’s largest tidal power plant was designed and built.
Combined authority officials have visited the Sihwa power plant to understand the technical layout and approach to operation and maintenance and study K-Water’s use of AI-powered advanced computer modelling to maximise energy generation.
The Mersey Tidal team has also developed a world-first model to predict changes in hydrodynamics while optimising the operation of the scheme. Work is under way to see how combining the two systems can benefit future projects.
Mr Rotheram said: “Building the UK’s first tidal scheme is a complex business, but our collaboration with K-Water has been a genuine partnership of shared learning and ambition.
“Over the past three years, we’ve benefited enormously from their world-leading expertise in tidal power – experience that has helped shape and strengthen our own plans for Mersey Tidal Power.
“The River Mersey powered the world’s first industrial revolution, and through this project it can once again drive a new, green industrial revolution – creating thousands of good jobs, boosting our energy security, and helping us reach net zero.”
Britain’s best known-bird charity, the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, has also written an article in which it says the barrage “would probably represent one of the most environmentally damaging developments in the estuary”.