ONE of the UK's leading renewable energy experts is threatening to sue the Government and quit the country amid claims Whitehall stole his pioneering work and handed it to engineering giant Rolls-Royce.

Cornwall-based tidal power innovator Rupert Armstrong-Evans says he has been betrayed by Whitehall.

He claims that Government environment chiefs have staged an "outrageous smash-and-grab raid" on his patent-protected plans for the Severn Estuary barrage.

Mr Armstrong-Evans believes his project was rejected because it put "too much" emphasis on the environment and the blueprint was handed over to big business.

Mr Armstrong-Evans created Britain's first-ever renewable energy company in 1973 and is one of the country's leading green power developers. Evans Engineering, based at Launceston, Cornwall, builds water turbines, waterwheels, pumps, pumping systems and equipment for the water industry.

The family has been involved in the manufacturing of pumps since 1810. Equipment made by the firm has been used extensively in the UK and in other countries including Sri Lanka, Nepal, Peru, Kenya and Zambia.

Mr Armstrong-Evans, who has more than 60 renewable energy patents to his name, has worked on his invention for the Severn low-impact barrage project for two years and has funded the scheme out of his own pocket.

However, last Wednesday, Energy Secretary Ed Miliband appointed Rolls-Royce and WS Atkins to deliver what Mr Armstrong- Evans maintains is an exact replica of his scheme.

Technological consultancy WS Atkins had previously worked on the feasibility study with Mr Armstrong-Evans to gauge the impact to the environment of a tidal reef in the Severn Estuary.

A spokesman for the Government's Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) yesterday described the allegation of corporate theft as "groundless nonsense" and insisted the two projects were not linked.

Earlier this year, Mr Armstrong-Evans offered to give away the concept of the reef design because he was frustrated with red tape preventing him accessing a £500,000 fund for renewable projects.

In an e-mail message sent from Rod Rainey, head of technology at WS Atkins last November, he was told his innovation was a "brilliant suggestion" and that the company saluted him for his groundbreaking idea.

Mr Armstrong-Evans said: "The 'reef' project is my baby and I would rather give it away on condition that it is developed properly for everyone's benefit, rather than hijacked by the big boys, who will just look at the bottom line."

The "low head barrage" is supported by the DECC as part of the Severn Embryonic Technologies Scheme, which aims to fund new Severn tidal power technologies that may have less of an impact on the environment.

However, Mr Armstrong-Evans is angry at what he says is the bias towards larger, more established companies which have no need for the funding.

He said: "The funding is supposed to help a variety of companies, but the entire budget has gone to multinational companies. They didn't seem interested in the project until we ran a feasibility study with the RSPB and they got behind it."

He added: "DECC looked me in the eye and said there was no overlap with projects."

But as far as he was concerned, the "low-head barrage" was "exactly the same as mine".

Mr Armstrong-Evans' Severn Tidal Reef is seen as an environmentally friendly method of harnessing tidal energy. The full range of the tide is harnessed by a large number of simple low-head turbines along the 12-mile route from near Minehead in Somerset to Aberthaw in Wales.

Several environmental groups, including the RSPB and Friends of the Earth, supported the scheme ahead of other projects such as the controversial Weston barrage.

A DECC spokesman described the allegation of bias as "groundless nonsense", adding: "The whole scheme is about the environment – it's utter nonsense to say we have rejected this proposal because it was 'too environmental'.

"We have tried very hard to provide opportunities for the tidal reef proposal to develop, but sadly we don't believe it can work or that it's right to spend taxpayers' money on it.

"The proposer is, of course, upset that we are funding other proposals and not his, but we stand by our decision.

"We are seriously interested in investigating whether energy could be generated from the Severn in an environmentally friendly way. Three promising embryonic proposals are being worked up. They include two tidal fence options and the Atkins/Rolls-Royce low-impact barrage."

A spokesman for Rolls-Royce refused to comment. However, a spokesman for WS Atkins said: "The idea of tidal barrage projects goes back 40 years. Our proposal is a very, very different design. We are confident that the scheme is significantly different."