Looks like the prospect of a Tidal Barrage across the Mersey is a step closer, and the environmental impacts are just a technical challenge to be overcome!
See below the article for ideas what you can do.
See below the article for ideas what you can do.
bbc.com
Mersey tidal power: Agreement signed with South Korean giant
Liverpool City Region has signed an agreement with the company behind the world's largest tidal power plant in a bid to power up to one million homes.
Metro Mayor Steve Rotheram wants to harness tidal power on the River Mersey in Liverpool by building a barrage.
He said the agreement to share lessons with South Korea's state water company, which runs the Sihwa Lake tidal range power scheme, was a "massive step".
However, he admitted he needed the government's help to build the scheme.
"This is an achievable and realistic scheme but nobody's taken it seriously," he told BBC Radio Merseyside.
"It's as close now as it's ever been. There are technical challenges and environmental concerns we need to address, but all of those things can be overcome.
"All we need now is a government to say 'yes'.
"I think this is the most exciting thing we've ever seen on the River Mersey in our lifetime - maybe ever."
The Sihwa Lake tidal range power plant, which is operated by Korea Water Resources Corporation, known as K-water, generates 552GWh of clean, green energy every year, replacing the equivalent of 862,000 barrels of oil a year.
Jeong kyeongyun, the company's senior executive vice president, said he believed the move would help "expand exchanges between the two countries to proactively respond to the global climate crisis and to sustainably realise carbon neutrality".
Liverpool City Region Combined Authority said the Mersey Tidal Power Project had the potential to generate enough clean, predictable energy to power up to one million homes and create thousands of jobs in its construction and operation.
'Very cheap energy'
Dr Judith Wolf, from the National Oceanography Centre, said the project, which would see a dam structure with turbines built in the river, could take up to 10 years to complete but would generate "very cheap energy" for "a hundred years".
"We can predict how the energy will come from the ocean to the River Mersey for a long time into the future," she said.
"In Liverpool we have a very high tidal range," she said, adding the city was in "a very good position to extract energy".
Over the last two years, the authority said it had undertaken early technical work to develop the potential scope of the scheme, which could be up and running within a decade.
It said the agreement paved the way for close co-operation between the two tidal power projects, through reciprocal visits and information sharing.
Metro Mayor Steve Rotheram wants to harness tidal power on the River Mersey in Liverpool by building a barrage.
He said the agreement to share lessons with South Korea's state water company, which runs the Sihwa Lake tidal range power scheme, was a "massive step".
However, he admitted he needed the government's help to build the scheme.
"This is an achievable and realistic scheme but nobody's taken it seriously," he told BBC Radio Merseyside.
"It's as close now as it's ever been. There are technical challenges and environmental concerns we need to address, but all of those things can be overcome.
"All we need now is a government to say 'yes'.
"I think this is the most exciting thing we've ever seen on the River Mersey in our lifetime - maybe ever."
The Sihwa Lake tidal range power plant, which is operated by Korea Water Resources Corporation, known as K-water, generates 552GWh of clean, green energy every year, replacing the equivalent of 862,000 barrels of oil a year.
Jeong kyeongyun, the company's senior executive vice president, said he believed the move would help "expand exchanges between the two countries to proactively respond to the global climate crisis and to sustainably realise carbon neutrality".
Liverpool City Region Combined Authority said the Mersey Tidal Power Project had the potential to generate enough clean, predictable energy to power up to one million homes and create thousands of jobs in its construction and operation.
'Very cheap energy'
Dr Judith Wolf, from the National Oceanography Centre, said the project, which would see a dam structure with turbines built in the river, could take up to 10 years to complete but would generate "very cheap energy" for "a hundred years".
"We can predict how the energy will come from the ocean to the River Mersey for a long time into the future," she said.
"In Liverpool we have a very high tidal range," she said, adding the city was in "a very good position to extract energy".
Over the last two years, the authority said it had undertaken early technical work to develop the potential scope of the scheme, which could be up and running within a decade.
It said the agreement paved the way for close co-operation between the two tidal power projects, through reciprocal visits and information sharing.
The above article on the Mersey Barrage is worrying and it has been pointed out that this is more worrying as the government pushes through its Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Bill which could result in weakening of the Habitats Directive.
You might want to write to your MP about the news article, and the prospective barrage, particularly if you live in Liverpool. It is annoying that they call it clean, green energy, it might be low carbon, but in my view, it will not be green as it will do a considerable amount of environmental damage, though Steve Rotherham thinks the environmental impacts are just technical challenges that can be addressed.
Below is an idea for a letter to your MP, which should be edited to suit yourselves.
Dear ---- ----- MP
The government has set out an ambitious plan to leave the environment in a better state than where they found it. The 25 Year Environment Plan and the Environment Act 2021 promise much, and reform of the Common Agricultural Policy has huge potential to reverse the declines in farmland birds and other wildlife. I can see the proposals within the new Environmental Land Management Scheme (ELMS) could help us develop more sustainable measures to help reduce flood risk. I am also excited by the prospect of this time next year all developments increasing biodiversity by 10% through Biodiversity Net Gain.
I am writing to you to say how much I support these new initiatives and aspirations and express my hope that the above initiatives will not be watered down, as has been rumoured, in the forlorn hope that by doing so that will help boost growth.
I am also worried by things that could work against these plans. The Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Bill will end all EU law in just over a year. The rhetoric coming from many Conservative MPs makes one think that all EU law is bad and is still holding us back and that we need to get rid of it all so we can make our own laws. However, much EU is designed to protect us and the environment and much of it was led by the UK. Therefore, I am worried that legislation such as the Conservation of Habitats and Species Regulations 2017, the Air Quality Standards Regulations, the Water Framework Directive and the Marine Strategy Regulations will either be deleted altogether or deleted and replaced with new laws that provide less protection. I am particularly concerned that many of these changes could be done by a minister without the scrutiny of parliament. Even if these laws are to be retained, they will require much work from Defra civil servants to rewrite them, time better spent drafting new legislation to further improve protection of the environment, like the Biodiversity Net Gain Regulations that have still not been published.
Can you assure me that despite the woeful economic situation the government remains committed to the 2019 manifesto to create “the most ambitious environmental programme of any country on earth” and will not spend its time dismantling a very good environmental law, but spend its time developing new and better laws and incentives to help protect the natural and human environment?
Your sincerely
_______ ______
You might want to write to your MP about the news article, and the prospective barrage, particularly if you live in Liverpool. It is annoying that they call it clean, green energy, it might be low carbon, but in my view, it will not be green as it will do a considerable amount of environmental damage, though Steve Rotherham thinks the environmental impacts are just technical challenges that can be addressed.
Below is an idea for a letter to your MP, which should be edited to suit yourselves.
Dear ---- ----- MP
The government has set out an ambitious plan to leave the environment in a better state than where they found it. The 25 Year Environment Plan and the Environment Act 2021 promise much, and reform of the Common Agricultural Policy has huge potential to reverse the declines in farmland birds and other wildlife. I can see the proposals within the new Environmental Land Management Scheme (ELMS) could help us develop more sustainable measures to help reduce flood risk. I am also excited by the prospect of this time next year all developments increasing biodiversity by 10% through Biodiversity Net Gain.
I am writing to you to say how much I support these new initiatives and aspirations and express my hope that the above initiatives will not be watered down, as has been rumoured, in the forlorn hope that by doing so that will help boost growth.
I am also worried by things that could work against these plans. The Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Bill will end all EU law in just over a year. The rhetoric coming from many Conservative MPs makes one think that all EU law is bad and is still holding us back and that we need to get rid of it all so we can make our own laws. However, much EU is designed to protect us and the environment and much of it was led by the UK. Therefore, I am worried that legislation such as the Conservation of Habitats and Species Regulations 2017, the Air Quality Standards Regulations, the Water Framework Directive and the Marine Strategy Regulations will either be deleted altogether or deleted and replaced with new laws that provide less protection. I am particularly concerned that many of these changes could be done by a minister without the scrutiny of parliament. Even if these laws are to be retained, they will require much work from Defra civil servants to rewrite them, time better spent drafting new legislation to further improve protection of the environment, like the Biodiversity Net Gain Regulations that have still not been published.
Can you assure me that despite the woeful economic situation the government remains committed to the 2019 manifesto to create “the most ambitious environmental programme of any country on earth” and will not spend its time dismantling a very good environmental law, but spend its time developing new and better laws and incentives to help protect the natural and human environment?
Your sincerely
_______ ______
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D Smith ed. C Cockbain
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