HUGE SCHEME.

Grey River Argus, 27 November 1920, Page 4

HUGE SCHEME.

WATER POWER.

IN WEST OF ENGLAND,

\ (A. and N.Z. Cable Association.) (Ree. November 26, 9.5 p.m.) LONDON, November 26. The Transport Ministry's Engineering Department has published details of the world's greatest water power scheme for utilising the river Severn's tides in order to produce an estimated total of over half a million electrical horsepower per ten hour day. Niagara Falls only furnishes 285 thousand a day. In the Ministry's words "this scheme possesses limitless attractions, opening up a vista which will be little short of an industrial revolution in Wales, and Western and Midland England, effectively solving the traffic (problems in that region, and bringing . within reach of all classes of the community the blessings of cheap light and power. The scheme jjroposes the construction o£ a barrage on the Severn, in tho vicinity of the Severn tunnel. The tide would bo admitted through swinging sluices, automatically closing when the tide began to fall, the water passing instead through gigantic turbines, capable of generating a million horsepower. A subsidiary scheme, .which itself is gigantic, proposes a vast High, level lake in the Urge Valley, above Tintern Abbey. Surplus power exonerated, by turbines will bo utilised to pump water to the lake, being forced en route through a tunnel .a mile in length and forty feet in diameter. This lake would be used to supply reserve power when tidal power during neap tides was below requirements. It is believed the lake project would solve a difficult problem of securing an 'imple constant supply of power, which arises from the fact that neap tides furnish only one quu^ter of the power [of spring tides. Tho drivativo piO- ". jects are themselves of the first magnitude. Some would create a shipping basis covering twenty-seven square miles, much of which would be usable by tho largest vessels in any state of the tide. Shores suitable for g/eat industrial undertakings and dcepwater wharves could easily be constru&ted, : and would revolutionise tho canal system of England by providing direct transhipment from the great industrial centres. The dam would carry several rail tracks, dispensing with the oDjcettionable Severn tunnel, also roads, including a concrete road for motor transport, saving fifty mile deviation through Gloucester. Brigadier-General Sir Alexander Gibb developed the main lines of the scheme, and two leading Engineers worked out the details. The Ministry says little as regards the financial and commercial aspects, but it is estimated power would be produced at a cost of a halfpenny per Board of Trade unit. This would save tnc nation about four million tons of coal a year, besides establishing a new shipping and industrial Region. One newspaper says it understands the scheme would cost from twentyfive to thirty millions, employing a quarter of a million men for seven, years. ■ Tho newspapers' comment is cau- ! tious, welcoming the project as containing illimitable possibilities, but pointing out that it has* yet to be proved as a commercial proposition.

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