Metro Mayor of the Liverpool City Region, Steve Rotheram, has announced the next phase of a project to harness the tidal power of the river Mersey and Liverpool Bay.
The Mersey Tidal Power project is expected to provide thousands of jobs for local people during the construction phase as well as into the future.
Steve Rotheram said: “The unique geography of the River Mersey and Liverpool Bay makes us one of the only places in the UK with the potential to generate plentiful, predictable, green tidal electricity.
“Making this project a reality would create thousands of jobs for local people in the city region and that’s why we’re moving forward to the next stage, which is creating an outline business case to demonstrate the viability of a tidal power project.
“As the whole world seeks to move beyond its dependence on carbon, we have an opportunity to build on our existing strengths in tidal research to develop a world-leading tidal power industry.”
It is thought that a tidal energy scheme for the River Mersey and Liverpool Bay could have the potential to generate up to four times the energy of all of the wind turbines in Liverpool Bay, which would be enough to power up to a million homes, Liverpool City Region Combined Authority noted.
This next phase of the tidal project will see the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority work with a team of technical and financial advisers, with experience of delivering major infrastructure projects, to develop the outline business case over the next 12 months.
This team will be led by Arup and includes ABPmer, Grant Thornton and BECG.
The outline business case will provide the Combined Authority with a detailed and robust technical, financial and environmental evaluation of the viability of a Mersey Tidal Power project, to consider progressing to the next stage.