The Anonymous Widower

Mersey Tidal Project And Where It Is Up To Now

The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on the Liverpool Echo.

This is the sub-heading.

With a major agreement on the project reached this week, we take a look at what it all means.

There is a section, which is called So What Is A Mersey Tidal Project?, where this is said.

The idea is to build a huge damn structure in the River Mersey with turbines that can harness energy from the tides of the river and convert it into clean power. The city region combined authority is hopeful that this could power up to 1 million homes and create thousands of local jobs

The city region has one of the country’s largest tidal ranges so it is seen as a perfect opportunity to explore a tidal project here. It is hoped such a project could generate a ‘plentiful, reliable supply of clean, green energy for generations to come.

In the 1970s, I did a small project management consultancy at Frederick Snow and Partners in London. They showed me their ambitious plans for a Severn Barrage, which was a tidal scheme, that would have created a tenth of our electricity and would have cost around a billion pounds.

But Harold Wilson, who was Prime Minister at the time, felt that the money would be better spent on building massive coal-fired power stations, rather than building a clean power station, that would last centuries.

A second section is called What Happened This Week?, where this is said.

This week the Liverpool City Region signed an agreement with the company behind the current world’s current largest tidal project with a view to learning lessons.

The Sihwa Lake tidal range power plant, which is operated by Korea Water Resources Corporation, generates 552GWh of clean, green energy every year, replacing the equivalent of 862,000 barrels of oil a year.

Jeong Kyeong Yun, Vice President of Korea Water Resources Corporation, known as K-water, was in Liverpool this week to sign an historic Memorandum of Agreement with Mayor Rotheram. It is hoped the agreement will pave the way for close co-operation between the two tidal power projects, through reciprocal visits and information sharing.

Note.

  1. The Liverpool Echo is still making spelling mistakes, like damn instead of dam. In the 1960s, Fritz Spiegl used to give us all pleasure by writing about them.
  2. 552 GWh would keep the UK powered up for nearly a month.
  3. The Sihwa Lake Tidal Power Station has a comprehensive Wikipedia entry.
  4. The Sihwa dam has a road over the top.
  5. Unlike Frederick Snow’s scheme for the Severn, Sihwa only generates power, on the incoming tide. But it does generate 254 MW.

As ever, Liverpool is thinking big and getting the experience from those, who know what they are doing.

This last paragraph, gives the thoughts of the Mayor.

Mayor Rotheram said that with the right support, he hopes the project could be generating clean, renewable power by the end of this decade.

I would go along with that.

The Mersey Tidal Project And The Mersey Gateway Bridge

Frederick Snow’s plans for the Severn could have incorporated a new road and rail crossing of the estuary.

This Google Map shows the the Sihwa Lake Tidal power station.

The road over the dam is clearly visible.

I took these pictures of the Mersey Estuary as I came back from Liverpool on Tuesday.

This Google Map shows the Mersey Estuary.

Note.

  1. The River Mersey flowing from the North-East corner of the map to the South-West corner.
  2. On the South Bank of the Mersey, there is the deep-water channel of the Manchester Ship Canal.
  3. The bridge in the North-East corner of the map is the Mersey Gateway Bridge.
  4. Then there is the pair of bridges at Runcorn; the Silver Jubilee Bridge and the Runcorn Railway Bridge.

I am fairly sure, that the Mersey Tidal Project would be built downstream of the pair of bridges at Runcorn.

This Google Map shows the Mersey Estuary from the Runcorn Bridges to the mouth of the Manchester Ship Canal.

Note.

  1. The Mersey Gateway Bridge and the two Runcorn bridges are in the North-East corner.
  2. The route of the Manchester Ship Canal is clearly visible.
  3. Liverpool John Lennon Airport is on the North Bank of the Mersey.
  4. The M56 and M53 Motorways run East-West across the map to the South of the River.

This map leads me to the conclusion, that a tidal barrage with a road on top could link Liverpool to the M56.

I have some thoughts.

Rail Access To Liverpool

There is an electrified railway between Liverpool and Ellesmere Port.

  • The railway can be picked out running across the bottom of the map.
  • In Liverpool’s Vision For Rail, I talked about Liverpool City Region’s plan to expand this service to Helsby, Frodsham and Runcorn East.
  • Helsby and Frodsham are shown on the map.

I wouldn’t be surprised to see a new Park-and-Ride station, where the M56 and the railway cross.

Ship Access To Manchester And Other Ports

Barrages usually have to provide access for ships to pass through to any ports behind the barrage.

But the Mersey Tidal Project already has that access. – It was built in the 1893 and is called the Manchester Ship Canal.

There is probably strong protection between the Mersey and the Canal between the mouth of the Canal and Runcorn, which may impact positively on the costs of the barrage.

The Simple Barrage

Sihwa Lake Tidal power station is a simple barrage with a bridge over the power station in the middle.

This Google Map shows the location of the power station.

Note.

  1. Seoul is in the North-East corner of the map.
  2. The Sihwa Lake Tidal power station is marked by the red arrow.

This Google Map shows a close-up of the power station.

Note.

  1. The ten turbines appear to be in the gap.
  2. There appears to be a road on top of the barrage.
  3. The area to the West of the power station is marked as a rest area.
  4. A Moon Observatory is marked.
  5. It has bus stops, showing that it is served by the 123 and 123-1 buses.

It is an impressive structure.

I’m sure that this type of barrage would work over the Mersey.

  • A road could be built on top.
  • It may only be able to generate electricity,from an incoming tide, like Sihwa.
  • It could incorporate a rest area.

I do suspect though Liverpudlians would add a few unique touches of their own. Perhaps some liver birds or superlambananas.

The Frederick Snow Solution

The Severn is a wide river and he proposed that there would be a dam across the river, with a spine running East along the middle of the river.

  • The spine would divide the river into two lakes.
  • On the incoming tide, sluices would open and allow water to flow into the Northern or high lake from the Mersey estuary.
  • On the outgoing tide, sluices would open and allow water to flow out of the Southern or low lake into the Mersey estuary.
  • Water would flow between the high and low lake through turbines to generate electricity.
  • I have assumed that the high lake is on the North side, but if the geography is more suitable, the high and low lakes could be reversed.

In the design for the Severn Barrage, an International airport would have been built on the spine.

But Liverpool already has a nearby International airport, so perhaps it could be much better to install a large electrolyser and hydrogen storage on the spine.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

February 10, 2023 Posted by | Energy, Hydrogen | , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment