Mersey Tidal Power - Technology options put forward to generate tidal power from the Mersey Estuary

The Mersey Tidal Power project has passed a notable milestone with the completion of the first stage of a major feasibility study designed to select a preferred scheme for generating electricity from the tides within the Mersey Estuary.

A rigorous technical screening of a wide range of tidal power options has been performed. This assessment has resulted in the selection of four main technologies that will be taken forward for fuller analysis.

The four technologies selected are:

• a tidal barrage incorporating conventional turbines similar to those routinely used in low head hydroelectric power applications;
• a tidal power gate – which could perform as a very low-head barrage – containing a grid of specially designed, smaller turbines.  This is the kind of technology used to produce power from, for example, reservoir spillways and sluices;
• a tidal fence – a means of capturing energy from the natural or constrained velocity of the tidal flow – with either horizontal- or vertical-axis turbines designed for generating electricity in open streams;
• an alternative tidal fence based on a new proprietary device that concentrates the energy contained in a large body of slow-moving water into a smaller body of fast-flowing water using the Venturi effect.
• This list may be revised and developed as the study proceeds and further information becomes available.

The feasibility study is being led jointly by a consulting team comprising Scott Wilson, Drivers Jonas and EDF, on behalf of Peel Energy and the Northwest Regional Development Agency (NWDA). The study team strived to include as many relevant technologies as possible in the assessment. Existing and emerging technologies for use in a range of water depths were examined, and consideration was given to work on tidal power generation from the Mersey stretching back nearly 30 years – schemes have emerged in the past for generating up to 700 MW of electricity from the estuary. The study also took account of similar work being done to assess the possibility of generating power from the tides within the Severn Estuary and of a related government-backed programme to promote new tidal power technologies, the Severn Embryonic Technologies Scheme (SETS).

For further information please contact: Mark Flaherty, Peel Energy, on 0161 629 8414 or visit  http://www.merseytidalpower.co.uk/

For a copy of the full press release click here