Tidal power politics: a comparison of political responses to large energy projects in the UK

Abstract

SYNOPSIS A 240 MW tidal power station was constructed on the river Rance between St Malo and Dinard during 1959–1967. However, although France, in common with many other countries, had published widely in the broad field of tidal power, little publicised information on aspects specific to the Rance scheme prior to its construction can be identified from a detailed library search of the period. Certainly no reports of environmental assessments pertinent to the subject can be found. Why is it that, despite nearly seventy years of written reports, the UK has not found it possible to design, construct and operate its own tidal barrage? The Severn Estuary, with its very considerable tidal range, has been the subject of many specialist reports and symposia confirming the practicality of an electricity-producing construction; other estuaries around the UK have also received their own specialist attention and assessment. But, in reality, the UK is probably no closer to a tidal barrage than it was in the 1920s. Th...