The Anonymous Widower

Frederick Snow & Partners, The Severn Barrage And Harold Wilson’s Government

In the 1970s, for a few weeks, I did a project management consultancy on the new Belfast international Airport.

I am sure they felt I was more experienced than I was, because they gave me a report on their proposal to barrage the River Severn and asked me to comment.

As consultant engineers, who had designed Gatwick Airport, the main feature of the barrage, was a central spine in the River with a major two-runway airport on top.

• The runways would have pointed into the prevailing wind, which would have made take-offs and landings, efficient and safe.
• A few minutes and perhaps five percent of fuel would have been saved on flights to the West.
• The central spine would have divided the river into two parallel lakes; a high lake and a low one.
• I seem to remember, that the high lake was on the Welsh side.

At the Western end of the lake and the spine, there would have been a barrage.

• Sluice gates would have controlled the water flows into and out of the two lakes.
• The barrage would have also served as the Second Severn Crossing.
• The barrage would have been designed to reduce flooding along the River Severn.
• There would have been a lock on the English side, to allow ships to pass through the barrage.

The turbines would have been under the airport.

• They would have generated power by transferring water from the high to the low lake.
• About ten percent of England’s power could have been generated.
• I feel, that if the system were to be built now, pumped storage could be incorporated.

The sequence of operation of the power station would have been as follows.

• On an incoming tide, the sluices in the barrage to the high lake would be opened.
• Water would flow into the high lake.
• So long as the water level in the high lake was high enough and the water level in the low lake was low enough, electricity would be generated.
• On an outgoing tide, the sluices in the barrage to the low lake would be opened.
• Water would flow out from the low lake.

I believe that because the water levels can be precisely controlled, this tidal power station, would have been able to provide the power needed.

One of their engineers told me, that Harold Wilson’s government had turned the project down, as the Government believed that large coal power stations were the future.

Can you imagine, Canada, Japan, Korea, Norway, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland or many other companies even in the 1970s, taking such a short-sighted decision?

Over the years of this blog, I make no apology about returning to the subject of the Severn Barrage, with these posts.

• The Severn Barrage
• The Severn Barrage Is Still Off The Agenda
• Peter Hain Resigns to Back Severn Barrage
• Sleepwalking Our Way To An Energy Crisis
• The Onward March Of Coal
• Another Letter in The Times

I still feel strongly, that it was a tragedy for this country, that the Severn Barrage was never built in the last century.

Conclusion

Any engineer, who trained in the 1960s after the Aberfan Disaster knew that coal had no future.

But nobody had seemed to have convinced Harold Wilson of this fact.

So instead of the clean power from the Severn Barrage, we got more polluting coal-fired power stations.

May 21, 2024 - Posted by AnonW | Energy, Energy Storage | Aberfan Disaster, Coal, Coal-fired Power Stations, Frederick Snow, Gatwick Airport, Harold Wilson, Hydroelectricity, Pumped Storage Hydroelectricity, Severn Barrage, Tidal Power