Graphic: Severn Estuary tidal energy project

A £22 billion tidal energy project that would provide almost 5 per cent of Britain’s electricity will receive taxpayers’ cash if it is approved, ministers indicated yesterday.

The estimated cost of the Cardiff-Weston Severn barrage scheme, which compares with the £37 billion of public money spent on the first bank bailout, is so high that it will require public money if it is to be realised, they admitted.

Ed Miliband, Secretary for Energy and Climate Change, announced the scheme as one of five on a shortlist of projects to harness the power of the huge tides in the Severn estuary.

He acknowleged the challenging costs of the ten-mile barrage but said it could make a significant contribution to reducing the nation’s dependence on fossil fuels for energy.

The hydroelectric barrage proposed for the Severn between Cardiff and Weston-super-Mare is predicted to be more expensive than the other four shortlisted schemes put together. It would provide 4.8 per cent of Britain’s electricity and would create thousands of jobs in Wales and the South West.

Ministers are also attracted to the scheme, despite the cost, because it highlights their commitment to tackling climate change.

It remains controversial, however, because it would destroy 20,000 hectares (77 sq miles) of some of the most valuable habitat for wetland birds in Europe and would cause job losses in the dockyard and fishing industries.

The other schemes are smaller in scale but would also make a significant contribution towards renewable energy targets. All are likely to generate employment. The Cardiff-Weston barrage would be expected to provide work for 18,000 people for at least seven years, but would cause the loss of 3,300 jobs in fishing and portindus-tries. The smallest of the five schemes, the Fleming lagoon, would create an estimated 4,500 jobs for five years.

Under the terms of a European Union agreement to tackle climate change, Britain has to increase its dependence on renewable energy from about 3 per cent today to 15 per cent by 2020. The target is expected to mean that about 35 per cent of electricity must be from renewable sources.

The four projects also shortlisted are: Shoots barrage and Beachley barrage, both smaller and farther upstream than the Cardiff-Weston scheme, and two lagoons that would rely on similar hydroelectric technology but run along the shoreline rather than across the river.

Mr Miliband said that the Government was anxious to look into the potential of exploiting the “extraordinary resource” of the Severn’s 45ft (14 metre) tidal range, the world’s second-biggest, because of “the massive threat that climate change poses and the massive challenge that poses”.

Times recommends

• Energy-saving ideas from switched-on professor
• Rooks are as clever with tools as chimpanzees
• Burping of the lambs blows roast off menu