Morecambe Bay's tidal energy potential is now being discussed more than ever, according to Barrow and Furness MP Simon Fell. 

The projected £10 billion project to build tidal barrages across the bay and Duddon estuaries has been raised time and time again over the decades.

Plans to build tidal range power barrages were put forward by Northern Tidal Power Gateways which says they could generate emission-free power for 100 years and protect fragile ecologies from the threat of rising sea levels.

It claims eight million megawatt hours of predictable, emission-free power could be delivered annually - which is enough for two million homes.

Mr Fell said: "This project is something that has been talked about for generations in some form or another, but there is a real opportunity to get it motoring now. The growth in the shipyard will place enormous stress on our existing infrastructure, and that is before we start to consider other exciting projects such as carbon capture and storage based at Spirit Energy and new nuclear at Sellafield and the impact that growth with have.

"So, we need to consider new solutions and this one is certainly being discussed more than at any other time – I will continue to raise it with Ministers and senior officials, as I did with the Cabinet Secretary when he visited Barrow recently."

The UK, US and Australia committed this year to the construction of a new class of nuclear submarine as part of the AUKUS military alliance.

BAE Systems is investing £300 million in Barrow's shipyard to construct buildings capable of manufacturing and assembling the new class of submarines. The major development is the largest in 25 years at the shipyard and will see thousands of new jobs created. 

The submarines will be designed and predominantly constructed in Barrow which will secure the shipyard's long-term future even beyond Vanguard. 

There are also plans to convert the north and south Morecambe gas fields for carbon capture and storage. Sellafield is also building £8 billion of new waste management facilities and manufacturing tens of thousands of waste containers, while aiming to reduce its carbon footprint.