Tidal Power at Center of 50-Billion Pound Thames Hub Regional Redevelopment Plan

November 3rd, 2011 by Andrew

Image courtesy of Halcrow

UK architects Foster + Partners, Halcrow and Volterra are partners in proposing a massive, 10-15-year, 50-billion pound (US$80 billion) regional redevelopment plan for the Thames Estuary, the centerpiece of which would be a 5-billion pound (US$8 billion) project to install in-stream tidal power arrays capable of generating 525 gigawatt-hours (GWh) per year of clean, renewable electricity, enough to power some 76,000 homes.

Announced yesterday by famed architect Lord Norman Foster, the Thames Hub proposal would also see the construction of new flood defenses and a complete revamping of the region’s transportation infrastructure, including construction of an international airport on the Thames Isle of Grain capable of accommodating 150 million passengers per year, according to a businessGreen report.

The tidal arrays would form part of a new, 500 meter-wide flood barrier stretching 5 kilometers in length. In addition, Foster’s plan notes that up to 1,000 more 60-90 kiloWatt (kW) tidal power turbines could be installed on floating pontoons or anchored to the Thames River bed.

The tidal power system could be linked to the regional grid via an interconnection that’s already being built for the London Array offshore wind farm.

“Great Challenges Require Bold Solutions”

Along with generating renewable power on a large-scale and shoring up the region’s flood defenses, the redevelopment plan would overhaul its transportation, communications and water infrastructure. New road crossings and host conduits for high voltage power, broadband fiber lines and water distribution, the greenBusiness report notes.

High-speed passenger and freight rail route encircling London would be built, linking the airport and a planned high-speed rail line to England’s Midlands and the North, as well as Thames Estuary ports and the Channel Tunnel.

“Great challenges require bold solutions, which is why I believe our Thames Hub vision is critical to society and to the country’s economic prosperity,” Halcrow group board director, David Kerr was quoted as saying.

“If we don’t sustain and invest in infrastructure, then it’s at our peril. If the UK is to remain globally competitive, these proposals need to be seriously considered.”

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Tags: city planning, marine power, ocean energy, regional planning, sea level rise, Thames estuary, Thames Hub, tidal barrage, tidal barrier, UK tidal energy, urban insfrastructure, urban redevelopment

About the Author

Andrew I've been reporting and writing on a wide range of topics at the nexus of economics, technology, ecology/environment and society for some five years now. Whether in Asia-Pacific, Europe, the Americas, Africa or the Middle East, issues related to these broad topical areas pose tremendous opportunities, as well as challenges, and define the quality of our lives, as well as our relationship to the natural environment.

Gill Moore

This “sophisticated doodle” is not supported by the UK government or the aviation industry. It is not a proposal by the UK government or even commissioned by the UK government. It is merely a self-funded, self-promoting study by Foster + Partners. The fanciful imaginings of Lord Foster or as the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds so succinctly puts it “… the glossy and lavishly illustrated concept that exists only to waste scarce time and resources countering the benefits with a sober assessment of the costs.” Too dangerous because of bird-strike! Economically, environmentally and ecologically it is a complete non-starter.
Friends of the North Kent Marshes
Gill Moore

Alongside the RSPB and a broad coalition of millions, we are wholly opposed to the construction of an airport anywhere in the Thames Estuary because of the immense damage it would cause to the area’s internationally important wildlife and the wider environment. The whole issue was exhaustively investigated between 2002 and 2005 in the Government’s Aviation White Paper. ALL the key players, including the aviation industry, contributed. The idea of an airport in the Thames Estuary was conclusively ruled out and upheld by the High Court. In addition to the unprecedented environmental damage and the resulting massive legal implications, the investigation found that an estuary airport did not make sense economically, would not meet the requirements of the aviation industry and presented a significantly higher risk of ‘bird strike’ than at any other major airport in the UK. It would potentially be the single biggest piece of environmental vandalism ever perpetrated in the UK.
Friends of the North Kent Marshes
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