 | |
| Company type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Renewable energy |
| Founded | London, UK (26 August 2010) |
| Founder |
|
| Defunct | 2014 |
| Headquarters | , UK |
Key people | |
| Website | as archived in June 2013 [7] |
Hafren Power (formerly Corlan Hafren) was a tidal energy business formed to promote construction of a Severn Barrage between Wales and England.
The company was established in 2010 [1] as a consortium of companies forming a tidal energy business. [8] Its founders included engineering and construction companies, [9] [10] intending to promote the Severn Barrage. [10] It was originally named Corlan Hafren, [3] which means Severn Group in Welsh. [11] As of August 2012 [update] it comprises four companies, Arup, [12] Mott MacDonald, [12] [13] [14] Halcrow [12] [14] and architects Marks Barfield. [12] [14] Halcrow is lead company. [15] Associated companies and persons involved in the project include Atkins, Rolls-Royce, [4] accountants KPMG [11] [16] and Roger Falconer. [11]
Journalist Christopher Booker of The Sunday Telegraph noted in August 2012 that former Conservative environment secretary John Gummer is a former director of the company. As of August 2012 [update] one sixth of shares were held by Sancroft International, which is owned by the Gummer family. [2]
The House of Commons Energy and Climate Change Select Committee examined Hafren Power's proposal in 2013, coming to the conclusion:
Although construction of the barrage would be privately financed, Government support would be required for approximately thirty years through Contracts for Difference (CfD) or a similar mechanism. The strike price required by Hafren Power is unknown, but the ability of the project to compete with other low-carbon forms of energy is in doubt. A high strike price risks swamping the Levy Control Framework (LCF), while a strike price below £100/MWh appears unlikely to ensure the project’s economic viability. Hafren Power have failed to overcome the serious environmental concerns that have been raised. Further research, data and modelling are needed before environmental impacts can be determined with any certainty – in particular regarding fluvial flood risk, intertidal habitats and impact to fish. The need for compensatory habitat on an unprecedented scale casts doubt on whether the project could achieve compliance with the EU Habitats Directive. [17]
In 2013 and 2014 several executives and the CEO resigned. [18] Shortly after, Wales Online reported Hafren Power as defunct. [19]
In 2010 the company revived proposals for the Severn Barrage [6] from Cardiff to Weston-super-Mare [20] and in 2011 it presented them to the Department of Energy and Climate Change. [21] Former shadow Welsh Secretary Peter Hain and company representatives met with Prime Minister David Cameron in July 2012 to promote the project. [21]
The company said that the project will not require public funding and expected to attract investment from venture capital firms and pension funds. [16] It had sought funding from sovereign wealth funds, [3] stating that expressions of interest have been received from such funds and other investors in Kuwait, Qatar, [22] the UK [23] and elsewhere. [22]
Hafren Power stated the scheme would require £25 billion of capital investment, and estimated power costs were about £100 per MWh for the first 30 years, and £20 per MWh thereafter. [17]
Severn crossing is a term used to refer to the two motorway crossings over the River Severn estuary between England and Wales operated by England's National Highways. The two crossings are:
The Second Severn Crossing, officially named the Prince of Wales Bridge since July 2018, is the M4 motorway bridge over the River Severn between England and Wales, opened in 1996 to supplement the traffic capacity of the Severn Bridge built in 1966. The bridge is operated by England's National Highways. It has a total length of 5,128 metres (16,824 ft).
The Bristol Channel is a major inlet in the island of Great Britain, separating South Wales and South West England. It extends from the smaller Severn Estuary of the River Severn to the North Atlantic Ocean. It takes its name from the English city and port of Bristol.
Tidal power or tidal energy is harnessed by converting energy from tides into useful forms of power, mainly electricity using various methods.
The Renewables Obligation (RO) was designed to encourage generation of electricity from eligible renewable sources in the United Kingdom. It was introduced in April 2002, both in England and Wales and in Scotland albeit in a slightly different form: the Renewables Obligation (Scotland). The RO was later introduced in Northern Ireland in April 2005. In all cases, replacing the Non-Fossil Fuel Obligation which operated from 1990.
The Severn Estuary is the estuary of the River Severn, flowing into the Bristol Channel between South West England and South Wales. Its very high tidal range, approximately 50 feet (15 m), creates valuable intertidal habitats and has led to the area being at the centre of discussions in the UK regarding renewable tidal energy.
The Clywedog Reservoir is a reservoir near Llanidloes, Wales on the head-waters of the River Severn. The construction of the reservoir was enabled by an Act of Parliament which asserted that "At certain times the flow of water in the river is inadequate ... unless that flow were regulated so as to ensure that at those times water in addition to the natural flow will flow down the river."
The Severn Barrage is any of a range of ideas for building a barrage from the English coast to the Welsh coast over the Severn tidal estuary. Ideas for damming or barraging the Severn estuary have existed since the 19th century. The building of such a barrage would constitute an engineering project comparable with some of the world's biggest. The purposes of such a project have typically been one or several of: transport links, flood protection, harbour creation, or tidal power generation. In recent decades it is the latter that has grown to be the primary focus for barrage ideas, and the others are now seen as useful side-effects. Following the Severn Tidal Power Feasibility Study (2008–10), the British government concluded that there was no strategic case for building a barrage but to continue to investigate emerging technologies. In June 2013 the Energy and Climate Change Select Committee published its findings after an eight-month study of the arguments for and against the Barrage. MPs said the case for the barrage was unproven. They were not convinced the economic case was strong enough and said the developer, Hafren Power, had failed to answer serious environmental and economic concerns.
CH2M, earlier CH2M Hill, was an engineering company that provided consulting, design, construction, and operations services for corporations and governments. The company was organized in Corvallis, Oregon, and headquartered at 9191 South Jamaica Street, Englewood, Colorado. In December 2017, the company was acquired by Jacobs Engineering Group.
The production of renewable energy in Scotland is a topic that came to the fore in technical, economic, and political terms during the opening years of the 21st century. The natural resource base for renewable energy is high by European, and even global standards, with the most important potential sources being wind, wave, and tide. Renewables generate almost all of Scotland's electricity, mostly from the country's wind power.
Renewable energy in the United Kingdom contributes to production for electricity, heat, and transport.
Halcrow Group Limited was a British engineering consultancy company. It was one of the UK's largest consultancies, specialised in the provision of planning, design and management services for infrastructure development worldwide. With interests in transportation, water, maritime and property, the company undertook commissions in over 70 countries from a network of more than 90 offices.
Marine Current Turbines Ltd (MCT), was a United Kingdom-based company that developed tidal stream generators, most notably the 1.2 MW SeaGen turbine. The company was bought by the German automation company, Siemens in 2012, who later sold the company to Atlantis Resources in 2015.
Severn Tidal Power Feasibility Study is the name of a UK Government feasibility study into a tidal power project looking at the possibility of using the huge tidal range in the Severn Estuary and Bristol Channel to generate electricity.
Fennovoima Ltd is a nuclear power company established by Russian state's nuclear company Rosatom and a consortium of Finnish state-owned power and industrial companies.
A tidal stream generator, often referred to as a tidal energy converter (TEC), is a machine that extracts energy from moving masses of water, in particular tides, although the term is often used in reference to machines designed to extract energy from the run of a river or tidal estuarine sites. Certain types of these machines function very much like underwater wind turbines and are thus often referred to as tidal turbines. They were first conceived in the 1970s during the oil crisis.
A tidal barrage is a dam-like structure used to capture the energy from masses of water moving in and out of a bay or river due to tidal forces.
The Saltire Prize, named after the flag of Scotland, was a national award for advances in the commercial development of marine energy.
Tidal Lagoon Swansea Bay was a proposed tidal lagoon power plant that was to be constructed in Swansea Bay off the south coast of Wales, United Kingdom. Development consent was granted by the UK government in June 2015, and in June 2018 the Welsh Government approved the plan and offered to invest £200 million; however, later that month the UK government withdrew its support on value-for-money grounds. Other options to enable the proposal to go ahead were reportedly still being explored.
The Mersey Barrage is a proposed scheme for building a tidal barrage across the Mersey Estuary. In December 2022, the Liverpool City Region mayor announced cooperation between the City Region and K-water of South Korea, who built and operates the Sihwa Lake Tidal Power Station, in order to construct a similar operation on the River Mersey.