Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment his Department has made of alternative forms of tidal energy generation; what the result of the modelling of those alternatives was; what assessment was made of the effect of each such alternative on (a) coastal erosion and (b) sediment build-up; and if he will make a statement.

In 2010, the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) published its feasibility assessment of a scheme to generate electricity from the tides of the Severn estuary. It found that, since the Severn estuary is highly dynamic, and without detailed information on specific projects, it was impossible to predict the impacts of the tidal power schemes surveyed with absolute certainty.

Environmental impacts, along with other relevant matters, would be considered as part of the relevant statutory planning processes when consent applications for tidal energy generation projects are submitted.