New Tidal Lagoon Power Project for Wales

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Written by Martin Lynch, European News Editor for Industrial Info (Galway, Ireland) - Plans for a giant tidal power lagoon in Cardiff Bay, Wales, have been revealed.

This is the second planned tidal project planned for Wales by developer, Tidal Lagoon Power. It wants to create six such projects around the U.K. which would be capable of supplying 8% of the U.K.'s total electricity for around 120 years. Tidal Lagoon Cardiff would be the UK's first full-scale tidal lagoon power plant.

The company has submitted an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) report for a tidal lagoon stretching between Cardiff and Newport. Tidal Lagoon Cardiff would use up to 90 turbines within a 22 kilometer (km) breakwater that encloses an area of around 70km2 that has an average tidal range of 9.21 metres. The project would have a planned generating capacity of between 1,800-megawatts (MW) and 2,800 MW -- more than enough to power all of the homes in Wales.

"Full-scale tidal lagoon infrastructure gives the U.K. an opportunity to generate electricity from our amazing tidal range at a cost comparable to fossil fuel or nuclear generation," claimed Mark Shorrock, Chief Executive of Tidal Lagoon Power: "We have the best tidal resource in Europe and the second best worldwide. We now have a sustainable way to make the most of this natural advantage.

"We will build on the template established for the Swansea Bay Tidal Lagoon - applying the expertise and learning, scaling the UK supply chain and Turbine Assembly Plant, leveraging the institutional investor partnerships we have developed -- to deliver a Cardiff Tidal Lagoon capable of working in harmony with nature to supply around 1.5 million UK homes, now and for generations to come, with affordable, reliable, low carbon electricity.

The company is awaiting a planning decision on its smaller Swansea Bay Tidal Lagoon, a scheme the company described as "a scalable blueprint for the sector". The scheme is a €752 million project ($986 million) project that will see the construction of a 9.5km-long, U-shaped, seawall running from the entrance to the River Tawe near Swansea Dock out to sea before curving back to re-join land adjacent to Swansea University. It will have a rated capacity of 240 MW and generate enough power for 121,000 homes. For additional information, see February 14, 2014, article - World's Largest Tidal Lagoon Advances.

U.K. Energy Secretary, Ed Davey, is in favour of the Cardiff project. Speaking to the BBC he said: "I can't make a decision on this yet because discussions are ongoing, but I'm very excited by the prospect of tidal power. We have got some of the biggest tidal ranges in the world and it would be really useful if we could harness some of that clean energy."

The biggest stumbling block for the original Swansea project getting off the ground is cost. The developer is looking for government support with a guaranteed strike price for electricity of £168 per megawatt hour (MWh), which is significantly higher than the proposed new nuclear project at Hinkley (£92-95/MWh) and offshore windfarms at under £120/MWh. However, the developer claimed that costs will be much lower for the larger Cardiff project, at around £90-95/MWh, which would be cheaper than offshore wind and competitive with nuclear.

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