The Wyre Tidal Gateway

At Natural Energy Wyre, we’re committed to delivering the eco-friendly Wyre Tidal Gateway across the River Wyre in Lancashire. This first-of-its-kind tidal energy plant has been designed from the ground up to generate high levels of clean, renewable energy to the people of Lancashire and beyond – enough to power as many as 80,000 homes and businesses.

The
Gateway

The Wyre Tidal Gateway is a tidal hydro energy plant...

The
Location

The site is located on the Lancashire coast...

The
River

The River Wyre estuary is ideal for the Wyre Barrage...

The
Timescale

Environmental studies and site investigations...

The Environment

The Wyre estuary is home to many varied species and highly acclaimed as a Sight of Significant Scientific Interest (SSSI) and also enjoys the protection offered by being a designated RAMSAR site, which focusses on the protection of wetlands.

Although this could be seen as a barrier to this project, the team at NEW Ltd. sees this accolade as a valuable asset and hopes to nurture growth and the environmental tourism market.

Management of this fragile environmental infrastructure has negative financial implications for NEW Ltd. as optimum energy output cannot be achieved whilst minimisation of environmental remains the main focus.

Designers have thought long and hard about this conundrum and devised a regime that will become known as “ECO-Thep” management – ecologically managed Tidal hydro energy plant.

ECO-Thep management leaves the tidal ranges unaltered on both sides of the gateway and extremely large sluices are employed to achieve this.

Sluicing high volumes of water is counterproductive to power production but allows ample time for the passage of fish and maintains the revelation of valuable un-grazed salt marsh, essential for wading birds in particular.

This strategic management regime actually reduces the returns of annual power production by around £5m but the company considers this a small price to pay to maintain the ecological status of this estuary.

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The Tidal Gateway

Tidal gateways provide innovative and environmentally friendly conversion of the power present in tidal range.

The “Wyre” tidal gateway has much more to deliver to this small Northwest area by providing essential flood defences and huge potential for economic growth in multiple sectors including manufacturing, tourism and transport.

The Location

The site is located on the Lancashire coast, between the industrial town of Fleetwood to the west and the small rural village of Knott End to the east. This specific site is positively unique, encompassing ideal geophysical and geological features, close proximity to a substantial National Grid connection, and some of the largest tidal ranges in the country.

The River

The River Wyre estuary is ideal for the Wyre Barrage, with its narrow, deep channel and bulbous body; a 600-meter span between its land masses; and an average tidal range of 8.2m and 4.5m during spring and neap cycles respectively, making power generation from this location the most economically viable in UK.

Contact Us

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The Old Post Office
Victoria Street / Albert Sreet
Fleetwood
Lancashire
FY7 6AJ

Local residents can make contact via
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