The formal planning process has begun for the Mersey Tidal Power scheme, which is set to be the largest in the world.
The 700MW development is set to be made up of 28 turbines submerged in the River Mersey. Plans for the development include building a pedestrian and cycling bridge over the river, connecting Liverpool and Wirral.
The scheme could be operational in under a decade and, once active, will have an expected lifespan of 120 years.
A scoping report for the project has been submitted to the Planning Inspectorate, marking the first stage in the process of obtaining a Development Consent Order (DCO), a process which is expected to take two to three years.
A six-week public consultation on the project will begin on October 1st, with the project’s developers seeking online and in-person feedback on the proposals. A further round of public consultations will be opened in 2025, during which refined proposals will be presented to the public.
Steve Rotheram, Mayor of the Liverpool City Region, said: “The Mersey Tidal Project is one of the most challenging schemes to deliver due to the environmental, ecological and economic considerations, but its potential to generate clean, green and predictable energy would be worth all the effort we are putting into this planning stage.
“The River Mersey has been the lifeblood of our region’s fortunes for centuries, and today marks another important milestone in its future. This project has the potential to power hundreds of thousands of homes with renewable energy for 120 years while creating thousands of green jobs. It’s a once-in-a-generation opportunity to cement our position as Britain’s Renewable Energy Coast and help lead the global charge to net zero. This is about much more than just an energy generation scheme—it’s a chance to build a lasting legacy for our people and our planet.”
Tidal range power
Tidal range power generation differs from the more commonly seen tidal stream power generation. While tidal stream systems generate power using submerged turbines, usually in remote locations, tidal range schemes generate energy from the difference in the height of the tides as they ebb and flow through generators. The difference in the height of tides in the Liverpool region can be as much as 10 meters, which can generate a significant amount of energy.
While tidal range developments are currently not in operation in the UK, eight tidal range schemes are currently in consideration for development on the west coast of the UK. As well as the Mersey Tidal project, these include the Swansea Bay Lagoon, Severn Barrage, West Somerset Lagoon, and North Wales Lagoon projects, among others. If all eight projects currently under consideration come to fruition, they would have a combined generation capacity of 20GW.
However, other types of tidal projects and hydropower have been seeing increased interest in recent months and years. A report earlier this year from LUT University, Finland, revealed that the UK must harness 27GW of wave energy capacity by 2050 to achieve the “lowest cost, net zero energy system”. Meanwhile, Inyanga Marine Energy Group and Verdant Morlais Ltd (VML) recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for a 4.9MW tidal stream energy project in Morlais, Wales.
The Welsh marine energy sector, in particular, is seeing major growth; a 2023 report from Marine Energy Wales showed that the sector in Wales received a record-breaking £103.4 million in investment in 2022, almost quadruple the previous year’s sum.
