{"id":363375,"date":"2026-01-10T21:09:33","date_gmt":"2026-01-10T21:09:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/363375\/"},"modified":"2026-01-10T21:09:33","modified_gmt":"2026-01-10T21:09:33","slug":"a-vast-14-mile-tidal-power-station-is-planned-for-the-coast-of-england-by-the-same-designer-as-the-london-eye","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/363375\/","title":{"rendered":"A Vast 14-mile Tidal Power Station Is Planned For The Coast Of England \u2013 By The Same Designer As The London Eye"},"content":{"rendered":"

Did you know that the UK<\/a>\u2019s national energy consumption\u00a0is expected to grow by nearly a third by 2035? That\u2019s a pretty substantial leap, which is why Marks Barfield Architects has come up with an equally substantial solution: the West Somerset Lagoon project, a vast tidal power station arching 14 miles over the Bristol Channel.<\/p>\n

Architect Julia Barfield, who is best known for designing the London Eye, is part of the team currently working on the proposal. She told the\u00a0Guardian<\/a> that it is a direct response to the rise of AI, and the extraordinary demand for energy that it causes, saying: \u2018If the decision is to go ahead with adopting more and more AI\u2026 then it is going to be better with a renewable energy source\u2019.<\/p>\n

In this case, that renewable source is the Bristol Channel, or the tidal power that it can generate. A huge semicircular barrage would extend 14 miles from Minehead to Watchet and contain 125 underwater turbines, generating roughly enough energy to power two million homes. Tidal is better for the planet than fossil-fuels, but it\u2019s also generally more reliable than solar or wind alternatives.<\/p>\n

While\u00a0the primary purpose of the station would be to generate clean electricity, the designers also say that it could become a public space. A path could be built along the top of the project, creating a pretty legendary walking or running route for locals bold enough to\u00a0face the\u00a0Celtic\u00a0Sea breeze.<\/p>\n

\"The
\nImage: Marks Barfield Architects <\/p>\n

Lidos, a water sports marina, oyster farms, an amphitheatre, and an observation tower have also been discussed as potential additions to the structure. Rachel Gilmour, MP for Tiverton and Minehead, described the plan as \u2018absolutely iconic\u2019 and supports making it a reality.<\/p>\n

So will all of this actually come to fruition? At the moment, the government has not commented directly on the project, but a spokesperson did say that it is \u2018open to considering well-developed proposals for harnessing the tidal range energy\u2019.<\/p>\n

All in all, the estimated cost for the West Somerset Lagoon is currently around \u00a311 billion, but proponents of the project argue it is a worthwhile investment and\u00a0that its 120-year lifespan would, in the long run, make it cheaper than alternatives like nuclear power.<\/p>\n

Did you see that a\u00a0\u2018Museum of Failure\u2019 is coming to the UK in 2026<\/a>?<\/p>\n

Stay in the loop:\u00a0sign up to our\u00a0free Time Out UK newsletter<\/a>\u00a0for the latest UK news and the best stuff happening across the country.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Did you know that the UK\u2019s national energy consumption\u00a0is expected to grow by nearly a third by 2035?…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":363376,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[1422,59,57,58,50,1423,1420,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-363375","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-united-kingdom","tag-categories-things-to-do","tag-gb","tag-great-britain","tag-greatbritain","tag-news","tag-news-city-life","tag-things-to-do","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/363375","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=363375"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/363375\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/363376"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=363375"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=363375"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=363375"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}