SCOTTISH Enterprise, with England’s Northwest Regional Development Agency (NWDA) and the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority, has agreed to commission a £100,000 feasibility study to evaluate options for harnessing tidal energy on the Solway Firth. Recent research by the Joule Centre and the Universities of Liverpool and Lancaster, and previous studies by Babtie, Shaw and Morton in the 1960s, highlights the possibilities for tidal energy extraction from the Solway Firth.
The proposed location for the barrage is along the route of a former rail viaduct close to Chapelcross nuclear power station, which is currently being decommissioned.