Name of the Project
Swansea Bay Tidal Lagoon.

Location
The project will be located in the vicinity of the Port of Swansea, south Wales, in the UK.

Project Owner/s
Tidal Lagoon Power.

Project Description
The Swansea Bay Tidal Lagoon will be the world’s first tidal lagoon power plant.

A tidal lagoon is a U-shaped breakwater that is built out from the coast and has a bank of hydroturbines in it. Water fills up and empties the man-made lagoon as the tides rise and fall. The project will generate electricity on the incom­ing and outgoing tides, four times a day, every day.

As a result of the incredible tides on the west coast of Britain, keeping the turbine gates shut for just three hours already creates a 4 m height difference in water between the inside and the outside of the lagoon. Power is then generated as the water rushes through 60-m-long draft tubes, rotating the 7.2-m-diameter hydroturbines.

The project will comprise 16 hydroturbines and a 9.5 km breakwater wall to enclose an estimated 11.5 km² of tidal area. The project will generate electricity for 175 000 homes for the next 120 years – will avoid the emission of about 236 000 t/y of carbon dioxide.

Potential Job Creation
Independent reports have found that 2 232 con­struc­tion and manufacturing jobs will be directly sustained by the construction, supporting thousands of further jobs in the wider Welsh/UK economy.

Capital Expenditure
£1.3-billion.

Planned Start/End Date
Work on site is intended to start in 2020. Construction of the entire project will take four years, with first power generated in Year 3.

Latest Developments
Tidal Power launched a £1.2-million fundraiser to finalise works to secure, in perpetuity, the planning permission awarded to the project.

Key Contracts and Suppliers
The project’s main delivery partners include Atkins, General Electric, Andritz Hydro, Laing O’Rourke and Alun Griffiths (construction).

On Budget and on Time?
The project was refused subsidies by the UK government in 2018 and is now racing to firm up private funding to begin construction before its planning permission expires this year. The Development Consent Order (DCO) will expire in June 2020 unless material works have started.

Funds are being raised primarily to complete the discharge of planning conditions that will enable the company to prepare for a start on site. This will, in effect, convert the DCO to ‘evergreen’ status and retain the option for the UK of tidal power at scale, when the political climate allows for it.

Tidal Lagoon failed to persuade the UK govern­ment to award it a so-called ‘contract for difference’ subsidy agreement, after Ministers deemed the plan too expensive. The agreement would have guaranteed a minimum price for the project’s electricity.

Contact Details for Project Information
Tidal Lagoon (Swansea Bay), tel +44 1792 274006 or email Swansea@tidallagoonpower.com.