Bidders announced for £15bn Severn Barrage

Five schemes have made it onto the shortlist to develop plans for a £15bn tidal power scheme in the Severn estuary.

Energy and Climate Change Secretary Ed Miliband announced the shortlist of bidders looking to  generate nearly 5% of the UK's electricity from the Severn’s tides.

Ten bidders originally put in plans for a power scheme in the estuary.

The new shortlist is:

• Cardiff Weston Barrage: A barrage crossing the Severn estuary from Brean Down, near Weston super Mare to Lavernock Point, near Cardiff. Its estimated capacity is over 8.6 Gigawatts - twice that of the UK's largest fossil fuel power plant - and it could generate nearly 5% of UK electricity.
• Shoots Barrage: Further upstream of the Cardiff Weston scheme. Capacity of 1.05GW, similar to a large fossil fuel plant.
• Beachley Barrage: The smallest barrage on the proposed shortlist, just above the Wye River. It could generate 625MW.
• Bridgwater Bay Lagoon: Lagoons are radical new proposals which impound a section of the estuary without damming it. This scheme is sited on the English shore between east of Hinkley Point and Weston super Mare. It could generate 1.36GW.
• Fleming Lagoon: An impoundment on the Welsh shore of the estuary between Newport and the Severn road crossings. It too could generate 1.36GW.

All 10 projects and the proposed shortlist will now be subject to a three-month public consultation which begins today.

Miliband said: "The Severn estuary has massive potential to help achieve our climate change and renewable energy targets. We want to see how that potential compares against the other options for meeting our goals.

"The largest proposal to harness the power of the tides on the shortlist could save as much carbon dioxide as all the residential emissions from Wales.”