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Top green Tory Tim Yeo has said he has 鈥渟erious concerns鈥� over the economic viability of a proposed Severn Barrage after the scheme鈥檚 champion, Peter Hain, MP, was quizzed by MPs today.

Hain, who has been an outspoken championed of the scheme, told the Energy and Climate Change Committee that Hafren Power, the scheme鈥檚 developer, would be willing to agree a guaranteed price for its electricity well below the 拢170 per MWh that it estimates it will cost to produce the power.

He said: 鈥淭hey are not asking for anything more than offshore wind gets and the cost will be significantly less because of the protection it brings to the nation.鈥�

Hain said the barrage would act as a defence agaisnt tidal surges which would help to offset some of the costs.

Offshore wind power currently costs around 拢140 MWh and the government is understood to be opposed to guaranteeing an electricity price above 拢100 MWh for any technology.

Hafren Power鈥檚 estimates the barrage would cost 拢25bn to build.

But Yeo, chair of the committee, said: 鈥淗afren鈥檚 evidence already suggests the costs are 拢170 kwh but they are happy to settle for a strike price very much below that. How are they going to reconcile that for the 30-years before it [the electricity] becomes much cheaper?鈥�

鈥淚 think there are some pretty serious concerns on the financial side as well as the environmental issues.鈥�

Environmental groups slammed the scheme as 鈥済uff鈥� and 鈥渟pin鈥� saying it wasn鈥檛 possible to verify Hafren鈥檚 claims that the turbines would not kill fish in the estuary.

Martin Salter, national campaigns coordinator at the Angling Trust, said: 鈥淐laims that these turbines are fish friendly are absolute guff.鈥�

He said the barrage would affect fishes鈥� ability to find their way to their breeding grounds; fish would be 鈥渕inced鈥� by the turbines and the slower moving water water would be too murky to allow them to navigate.

Kate Jennings, head of site conservation policy at the RSPB, said it was very difficult to predict the effect it would have on wildlife but that many other similar schemes around the world had had a negative impact on their local ecosystems.

But defending the benefits of the scheme Hain said: 鈥淚t will supply 5% of the UK鈥檚 energy needs, that鈥檚 the equivalent of three nuclear power stations or 3,000 wind turbines.鈥�

He said it would protect Bristol, Newport and Western Super Mare from tidal surges and would require no Treasury support. Plus, he claimed it would create 50,000 jobs.