The Severn Estuary Commission announced on November 6 that the Crown Estate had pledged to give £150,000 to support the commission’s work exploring the potential for sustainable energy production from the Severn Estuary.
The commission was launched in March 2024 by the Western Gateway Partnership, a pan-regional organisation aimed at bringing together business, local leaders and academia to drive sustainable growth across South Wales and Western England.
According to the announcement, the Severn Estuary has the highest tidal range in Europe and has been estimated to have the potential to provide up to 7% of the UK’s total energy needs.
The Severn Estuary Commission is exploring the possibilities for harnessing this energy while also protecting natural habitats.
The commission operates with support from the UK and Welsh governments and brings together expertise in engineering, the environment and finance.
It says its broad mandate includes the examination of existing energy technologies, funding and financing options, environmental protection measures and social and economic impacts, among others.
The funding from the Crown Estate will go towards research being carried out by the commission to explore the potential impacts on the environment and economy of the Severn Estuary while also looking at ways to harness tidal energy in the region.
The announcement noted that the funding award aligns with the Crown Estate’s stated long-term aims, with the organisation listing net zero and energy security, inclusive communities and economic growth and nature and biodiversity as its three main areas of focus on its website.
Tidal energy
Tidal energy is just one of the industries the Crown Estate is looking at as it works to stimulate drive clean energy development in the UK.
“The Severn Estuary is a vital natural resource with immense environmental and economic significance,” stated the Crown Estate’s new energies portfolio manager, Mike Dobson. “No one source will deliver the UK’s energy transition; we must explore a range of technologies as part of our future energy mix,” he said.
“Tidal power can have a role to play within that and we believe the important characteristics of a good tidal range project (as well as meeting DESNZ’s ‘Criteria For a Well-developed Tidal Range Proposal’) are a scheme which makes a positive case for nature, is focused on positive outcomes for communities and which represents efficient use of the seabed,” Dobson continued.
The expectation is that the funding will help to ensure the Severn Estuary Commission can procure the best support to further its research.
Crown Estate
This comes as the Crown Estate’s role is evolving. In July, the Crown Estate announced that it was partnering with Great British (GB) Energy, newly launched and still in the process of being set up.
The partnership has been billed as combining GB Energy’s ability to contribute strategic industrial policy that the state can provide, as well as its ability to invest, with the Crown Estate’s expertise in developing renewable capacity.
The Crown Estate will also be able to contribute its new investment and borrowing powers to the partnership, as set out in the Crown Estate Bill, introduced into Parliament in July. The bill is currently making its way through the House of Lords, the Crown Estate said in a November 6 update.
The initial announcements about the partnership have been focused primarily on offshore wind, with the Crown Estate estimating that the collaboration would lead to up to 20-30GW of new offshore wind developments reaching the seabed lease stage by 2030.
Tidal energy, meanwhile, tends to receive less attention as the UK works to ramp up its renewable energy capacity.
However, through the UK’s contracts for difference (CfD) renewable auctions, there is now 83MW of contracted tidal stream capacity in Scotland and 38MW in Wales, according to the UK Marine Energy Council (MEC).
The Severn Estuary Commission’s announcement indicates that further efforts to bring new tidal energy projects online are also underway.
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