Swansea Bay barrage dropped

This project sounds like one of those environmentally friendly schemes which is almost certainly just the opposite. Just a few of the doubts concern...

• The embodied energy of the concrete structure.
• The effect on wildlife, including fish and wading birds.
• The long-term consequences of the scheme, eg silting and pollution.
• Maintenance issues eg marine growth on the turbines, and silting again.

The uncompetitive cost of the electricity it would generate gives some indication of the embodied energy the scheme would absorb before any power was generated. I am inclined to think it is a good thing that the scheme has been abandoned.