The completion of the Severn Tidal project on the coastline between England and Wales - Essay Example

? Report for Severn Power Project 29th February, This report provides an insight into the completion of the Severn Tidal project on the coastline between England and Wales. The report examines the terms of reference, present situations, weaknesses of present conditions and offers recommendations and an action plan on power generation through the Severn Estuary. It examines the various conditions, risks and courses of action that must be followed by the key stakeholders to meet the expectations for the power generation. Description of Present Situation Currently, 450 million litres of water passes through the Severn Estuary on the coastline between Wales and England. This water is a collection of inland rivers and waterbodies that deposit their flow into the Sea at this point. It provides a great opportunity for a power generation facility at that would tap energy for users in Wales and England. The government and key stakeholders including members of the international community have agreed that Britain should cut its carbon emission to just 20% by the year 2050. This means that Britain will have to cut its carbon emission by 80% in the next four decades. There is therefore the need for the people of the United Kingdom to identify alternative means of producing energy. The consumption of petroleum products and hydrocarbon fuels increased at a very fast rate after the Second World War. The Kyoto Protocol identified that Britain accounts for about 5% of the world's carbon emission into the atmosphere (Frankel, 2010 p318). This is highly disproportionate to the size of Britain which is relatively small. Since the trend of global warming is an international matter, Britain has come under severe pressure to identify ways of cutting down on its reliance on hydrocarbons. Thus, the proposition of the British government to cut down emissions by 80% in 2050 has become more of a serious objective now than ever. One of the core solutions to the problem is to identify renewable energy options for the United Kingdom. Tidal power generation is one of the options available to a nation like Britain in her bid to identify an alternative to the reliance on hydrocarbons. The Climate Change Act gives legitimacy and force to the plans of the UK government to cut down on CO2 emissions. This means that the state has a tougher legal obligation to put its resources to use to produce a strong and potent method of dealing with climate change. The UK government has been involved with some key stakeholders in an attempt to find solutions to this problem. The main stakeholders who have been involved in discussions on providing solutions are: 1. The UK Government 2. Private Sector Energy Companies 3. The UK Public 4. Environmental Groups in practice and academia. These groups have been involved in various degrees of consultation and discussions on the matter. The Severn coastline offers one of the greatest opportunities for the establishment of a renewable energy system. This can be done by creating dams, barrages or some other facilities that will make use of the energy generated by the movement of the water on the coastline. These stakeholders have spent two years undertaking feasibility studies about the creation of an energy generation system on the Severn coastline. These feasibility studies has taken an number of core issues into account. The findings of the Severn consultation activities indicate that the project is capable of providing 15% of Britain's energy needs. This means that a dam on the estuary can potentially provide a significant solution to the carbon emission targets that has been set by the UK government in the Climate Change Act. This will obviously curb the volume of carbon emission and reduce the effects of pollution emanating from the United Kingdom. In the process, the stakeholder group collected a total of 10 proposals about how a power generation system could be set up at the Severn coast of the United Kingdom. These ten proposals were assessed on the basis of benefits, consequences, risks and costs. Under benefits, the financial returns to be made from each project on the basis of power generation and injection into the UK economy were examined. Each of the project had to be evaluated on the merit of its direct contribution to the UK economy as well as other indirect benefits to the local area and the community around Severn. Each project was also examined on the basis of the consequence. The future repercussion of each project was examined under this section. It included influence on the natural habitat and the people in the region. Also, the risks of each project was evaluated. The problems and issues that could potentially crop up from each project was examined closely. The risk of project failure and other environmental hazards and opportunity costs were examined duly. Finally, the costs were examined in great depth. How much each project would cost in ? terms was examined and evaluated. Other indirect costs to the wider society for each project was evaluated. At the end of the analyses, each project was matched in a cost-benefit, risk-consequence basis and a decision was taken. Five projects were shortlisted for further consultations and analysis. In this stage, one of the projects that stood out was the Cardiff-Weston Barrage which was to cost a total of ?21 billion. The project is expected to generate the highest level of power for the United Kingdom in the time allocated. Weaknesses & Shortcomings of the Project The Cardiff-Weston Barrage project is a major project that can bring a lot of energy to the UK people. It will generate as much as 8.64 Gigawatts per day. This volume will make it one of the largest energy producing centres in the world. It will also save the UK 7.2 Megatonnes of carbon emission. This means that there will be less reliance on petrol and other hydrocarbons. However, the Cardiff-Weston Barrage Project is going for a total of ?21 billion. This is an extremely high figure and will require a lot of financial commitments to get it underway. The initial indication is that the UK government cannot fund the project. No private group or organisation can take up the total cost of the project because it is extremely high and cannot be settled in an easy manner. The only option that seem to be practical is the joint funding by taxpayers and the UK government. Also, the unit cost of production is relatively high. This is because after the project is set up and completed, there will be a recurring cost of between ?104 and ?317 to get the Severn Tidal project to produce 1 Megawatt per hour. This is quite high because the cost of petroleum might not be so high. It therefore means that the overheads that will come with the Severn Tidal project is quite substantial and is not absolutely cheap. The calculations and write-offs of the project are complicated. There are several methods of estimating a project like this. Any method that is chosen is potentially at odds with other methods. It is therefore complicated for trends about the project to be known with a high degree of certainty. This means that the risk of the project is increased by some financial problems that could come up along the way. There could be complications like contractors re-invoicing for new payments which could bloat up the cost of this project because of entrapment. In other words, if the sponsors of the project make a commitment, the contractors could come back and make extra demands because of estimation problems. Due to the fact that the financiers have paid something, it will be possible for the contractors to demand more money on the basis of these errors because the financiers will expect the construction to be completed at the given deadline. Another setback of the project is the fact that it has the tendency to cause flooding in the basin of the rivers that flow into the coast at the Severn region. This is because the use of tidal power involves stopping the flow of water at different points in time. This means that there are going to be chances that the flow of water will be come irregular in some areas and this can lead to floods and other issues in the areas affected directly by this project. Although there is a plan to evacuate and compensate some people directly affected by the project, this might not be good enough. There might be uncertainties that cannot be factored into the planning now which will occur in the future. Also, the project seeks to change prevent carbon emission which is said to be responsible for environmental degradation. However, the creation of a barrage will affect the patterns of rainfall and have a telling influence on the sub-climate. This will also have some influences on the natural environment. This suggests that the project comes with some costs to the natural environment in the long run. The duration of the project is also long. In other words, it demands a lot of time for planning, consultation and an extra time to construct. It is estimated that there will be the need to conduct feasibility studies for between 3 and 5 years. This means that the discussions and talk can take a considerable period of time and this could lead to complications that can even prolong the project further. Also, the construction of the power plant is estimated to be undertaken in five to seven years. This is a considerably long period of time. The project is estimated to be completed in the year 2018. Within this period a lot of pollution would have occurred through hydrocarbon emissions which could have implications on the environment and possibly defeat the purpose for the project. There are also some habitat issues that will come with the project. It is estimated that the project will cause some issues to 15% of the flora and fauna of the area. This could cause the extinction of some marine life and other living organisms in the waterbodies and other parts of the area. There are some protected habitats and species in the area so the dam is likely to lead to some complications to the ecosystem which needs to be addressed. There are some concerns for the social lives of people who live near the power generation plants that are being proposed. There are issues with floods which could disrupt communication lines. There is also the risk of noise which could make life unbearable for the people who live in the regions around the Severn coastline. Finally, there is no guarantee that the project will yield the estimated results. This is because the flow of the tides are intermittent. There could be times and seasons where the tides will be strong enough to produce high volumes of power. There could also be times that the waves might not be strong enough to generate the estimated level of electricity that has been proposed. Recommendations In line with these challenges, the following recommendations are being made. Most of these recommendations are based on the fact that the project seem to be one that would benefit the society. As such, these recommendations are meant to ameliorate the issues with the project and enhance the benefits that society will game from the Severn tidal project. 1. The Cardiff-Weston project should be considered since it has the potential to make the optimum use of the water resources in the Severn region. 2. The government must identify a way of raising funds for the project. As such, the government must draw up an income generation system that will ensure that tax payers and the UK government raise sufficient funds to carry out the project by the given deadline. 3. Aside the raising of funds from taxes, the government can also take a loan and propose a way of writing off the cost by specifying a levy system that will be integrated into the cost of using electricity in the region over the coming years. 4. The government needs to hire professionals like biologists, geographers and engineers to evaluate the actual implications of the project in a very practical and accurate manner. Their proposal on how to prevent floods, climate change and habitat issues should be funded and/or insured accurately to guarantee that other elements of the natural environment are not destroyed by the project. 5. The project must be undertaken in a piecemeal manner. In this case, small sections of tidal energy generation plants would be created and used within a shorter timeframe. When a project is established, it should be put to use whilst other phases are constructed. This way, the public will not feel the impact of the costs and people will not have to wait too much for results. 6. A cost cutting team must be set up to ensure that costs are always investigated and given the immediate attention necessary. This way, a lot of care will be taken to prevent the payment of extremely high bills on this project. From this, the recommendations of the project, the following objectives will define the project's terms of reference: 1. The creation of a barrage between Cardiff and Weston to generate electricity from tidal waves. 2. The project is to be executed in a piecemeal fashion for the gradual generation of energy to the people of the regions around the Severn coast of the UK 3. The budget for the project is ?21 billion 4. The dam is to be completed in 2018. Action Plan The following steps should be taken by the project team to ensure that the project is commenced and completed successfully. 1. Identification of Stakeholders: The project team must identify the key and partial stakeholders of the project. 2. Set up of metrics: They should define measurable standards that the project will be based upon. This should be identified and agreed by all stakeholders. 3. Feasibility studies: After metrics are set, they should be tested for their applicability and remedial actions taken where necessary. 4. Creation of Work Breakdown Structure: There should be the creation of a clearly identified breakdown of work. The time and resource constraints and structures should be identified and sequences noted. 5. Select project technical teams: The parties for each stage of the work breakdown structure should be identified and possible bidding methods should be clearly defined where there will be the need to select the best contractor. 6. Implement policies: The project should be implemented by the mobilisation of resources and the acquisition of proper authorisation by the UK government. 7. Monitoring: The project should be monitored when it is set up and the project management team must make corrective action as and when necessary. There should be proper communication between parties of the project and the project manager for proper co-ordination. Conclusions This Severn Tidal electricity generation project is one that will make use of the UK's excessive water resources in order to help the government to cut down on its CO2 emission. The project is being proposed by the selection of one of five shortlisted projects from a list of ten proposed projects. The Cardiff-Weston barrage concept is one that provides the largest possible energy generation from the list of propositions. The project has financial challenges because it is expensive and must be written off over a long period of time. The project comes with overhead costs that are significant. There are also some estimation issues that can affect planning. Aside that, there are some clear issues relating to the natural environment and the habitat. It is recommended that the government undertakes an income generation scheme to raise funds for the Cardiff-Weston barrage. This can be complemented with other arrangements like loans and other activities that can bring enough money to the UK government to fund the project and charged to the future users of the project. Another recommendation is that the project must be carried out in a piecemeal fashion. Executive Summary This study identifies that the Severn tidal energy generation project should focus on building a barrage to link Cardiff with Weston. The paper suggests that the project will go on for a period of ten years and will end in the year 2018. The project will cost ?21 billion. The cost is to be dispersed by the UK government amongst current and future tax payers through income generation activities and loans that would be repaid over the useful life of the Cardiff-Weston barrage. This study examined the present energy situation and the position of the Severn region and its potential for energy generation. The study viewed the weaknesses in the existing condition and makes recommendations on how to raise funds to cover costs. The study concludes with an action plan on how the project must be undertaken. The paper recommends that the project team must identify stakeholders and set metrics by which the entire project would be based. This should be followed by a feasibility study that will test the possibility of attaining the proposed ends. After that, there should be a breakdown of work and the resources and constraints should be identified and factored into the project. Afterwards, project execution teams should be formed for specific works. The implementation of plans should be executed and closely monitored by the project team. Reference 1. Frankel H. (2010) Socialism: Vision & Reality London: Arena Books. Read More