Green energy in Britain took some faltering steps today. Some of them went in a positive direction, and some of them went in a negative direction. Deciding which was which is up to you.

The Severn Barrage tidal power project took a step forward, with five possible plans being unveiled today. The Guardian thinks about 5% of Britain’s electricity could be generated by tapping the tides of the Severn, at a cost of around £15 billion.

“This would make an important contribution to our renewable targets,” energy secretary Edward ‘Ed’ Miliband told the Sunday Times. “We can’t rule out anything when it comes to climate change.”

However some people are already complaining. Friends of the Earth Cymru want large offshore tidal lagoons considered as well as the five plans shown today and Welsh opposition politicians want things up and running before the current planned date of 2030 (News Wales).

Meanwhile, on the other side of the UK, what is potentially the world’s largest off-shore wind-farm is “on a knife-edge”.

The Financial Times reports:

Eon UK, the British arm of the German energy group, said the viability of its London Array project, a planned 1,000MW wind farm in the Thames estuary, had been called into question by the falling prices of oil, gas and carbon dioxide emissions permits.

…

Paul Golby, chief executive of Eon UK, told the Financial Times that the company was still committed to the Array, but warned: “The economics are looking pretty difficult.” His concerns are shared by other energy companies. Centrica, the owner of British Gas, estimates that each megawatt of wind power capacity costs about £3m to build: more than the equivalent cost for a nuclear power station.

Image: wind turbine stock photo / Getty