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Tidal Lagoon Swansea Bay

Coordinates: 51°35′52″N 3°54′23″W / 51.5977°N 3.9064°W / 51.5977; -3.9064
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Tidal Lagoon Swansea Bay
Map
CountryWales
LocationSwansea Bay
Coordinates51°35′52″N 3°54′23″W / 51.5977°N 3.9064°W / 51.5977; -3.9064
StatusProposed
(Formally rejected by the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy for the UK Government on 25 June 2018)
Commission date2019
(as proposed (rejected))
Construction cost£1.3 Billion
(estimate (as proposed))
OperatorsTidal Lagoon (Swansea Bay) Plc
(Proposed)
Tidal power station
TypeTidal lagoon
Power generation
Nameplate capacity320 MW
External links
Websitewww.tidallagoonpower.com
[edit on Wikidata]

Tidal Lagoon Swansea Bay is a proposed tidal lagoon power plant, to be constructed in Swansea Bay off the south coast of Wales, United Kingdom. If built it will be the world's first tidal lagoon power plant.[1] It was announced that the UK Government would not proceed with the plan on 25 June 2018, however other options to enable this proposal to go ahead are still being explored [2].

Proposed scheme

Tidal Lagoon Swansea Bay could operate 14 hours per day with a maximum output of 320MW (nameplate capacity),[3] and power the equivalent of around 155,000 Welsh homes[4]. There are different ways to evaluate Tidal energy output. The UK government considered intermittency due to the tides and that the Tidal Lagoon at Swansea Bay would have had a load factor of 19% compared to around 50% for offshore wind power.[5]. However as the monthly variation is predictable Tidal Lagoon energy could allow reduction in the amount of energy generated by gas-fired power plants.[6] For the construction period the Tidal Lagoon Swansea Bay (TLSB) would have sustained over 2,200 construction and manufacturing jobs,[7] but in operation only require 28 workers per year for the life of the TLSB.[5]. The Hendry Review (the source of these figures) also considered the economic impact of 2 additional Tidal Lagoons "Cardiff could support five times more total direct FTEs than TLSB (11,482); Colwyn Bay could support six times more (13,918)". [8].

It would be constructed to withstand 500-year-storms and to function as a coastline protection against storms and floods.[10]

The project was named as part of the UK government's 2014 National Infrastructure Plan[11] and was granted planning permission by the Department for Energy and Climate Change in June 2015.[1]

In early June 2018 the Welsh Government offered to invest £200 million to improve the project's difficult business case.[12]

On 25 June 2018 the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy rejected a Contract for Difference electricity purchasing agreement necessary to fund the £1.3 billion proposal. The main reason given was that there was little cost reductions potential for future lagoons, and a series of lagoons would cost the average electricity consumer an additional £700 by between 2031 and 2050 compared to a mix of offshore wind and nuclear power projects.[13][5]. The value for money calculation applied included the cost of all 6 of the proposed Lagoons in the 35 year cost comparison [14].

Technology

  • 9.5km of seawalls, impounding 11.5km2 of the seabed[15]
  • 16 bidirectional turbines[15]
  • Each turbine is 7.2m in diameter[15]
  • Variable speed regulation reduces the harm to fish[16]

Roman concrete has been proposed as a suitable material for constructing the sea walls.[17]

Review

In January 2017, a government-commissioned review, published by Charles Hendry, gave backing to the technology's viability and the concept of tidal generation, but not specifically to this company's commercial proposal.[18][19] The economics of the proposal has been criticised.[20] The effects on fish and wildlife are being assessed.[21]

Other sites

The scheme's developer Mark Shorrock hoped the project could kick-start a new industry and other developments will follow.

Tidal Lagoon Power in promoting this pathfinder project, proposes it as the first of six tidal lagoon power plants it would like to construct in the United Kingdom, (four in Wales).[22] Claiming they could meet up to 8% of UK electricity demand, or power for around 30% of UK homes. Tidal Lagoon Power is also progressing a number of potential projects overseas.

The scheme's developer claims that to date, approximately £35 million has been spent on project development. With the exception of a commercial loan from Welsh Government this has been financed privately.

See also

References

  1. ^ a b Elsevier Ltd, The Boulevard, Langford Lane, Kidlington, Oxford, OX5 1GB, United Kingdom. "Green light for world's first tidal lagoon". renewableenergyfocus.com. Retrieved 26 July 2015.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  2. ^ The Civil Engineer
  3. ^ "Proposal overview & vision". Tidallagoonswanseabay.com. Retrieved 26 July 2015.
  4. ^ "Key Statistics - Tidal Lagoon". Tidal Lagoon. Retrieved 2016-12-07.
  5. ^ a b c Clark, Greg (25 June 2018). "Proposed Swansea Bay tidal lagoon". Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy. Retrieved 26 June 2018.
  6. ^ MDPI paper: Grazia Todeschini, July 2017
  7. ^ "Swansea Bay Tidal Lagoon : Research : Access Latest LMI : Learning and Skills Observatory for Wales". www.learningobservatory.com. Retrieved 2016-12-07.
  8. ^ The Hendry Review
  9. ^ @charles_hendry
  10. ^ Shaun Waters, George Aggidis: A World First: Swansea Bay Tidal lagoon in review. In: Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 56, (2016), 916–921, doi:10.1016/j.rser.2015.12.011.
  11. ^ "Swansea Bay tidal lagoon given UK government boost". BBC News. Retrieved 26 July 2015.
  12. ^ Williamson, David (5 June 2018). "Carwyn Jones offers to invest £200m as part of 'final offer' to save the Swansea lagoon". Wales Online. Retrieved 2 July 2018.
  13. ^ Adam Vaughanand Steven Morris (25 June 2018). "Government rejects plan for £1.3bn tidal lagoon in Swansea". The Guardian. Retrieved 26 June 2018. The inescapable conclusion of an extensive analysis is, however novel and appealing the proposal that has been made is … the cost that would be incurred by consumers and taxpayers would be so much higher than alternative sources of low-carbon power that it would be irresponsible to enter into a contract with the provider
  14. ^ Oral Statement to Parliament: Greg Clarke
  15. ^ a b c "Environmental Statement: Non-Technical Summary (6.1)" (PDF). Tidallagoon.opendebate.co.uk. Retrieved 2017-07-06.
  16. ^ Tidal Lagoon Power. "Turbine Technology". Tidallagoonpower.com. Retrieved 3 February 2017.
  17. ^ McGrath, Matt (4 July 2017). "Scientists explain ancient Rome's long-lasting concrete". Bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 5 July 2017.
  18. ^ "Tidal lagoon: £1.3bn Swansea Bay project backed by review". BBC News. 12 January 2017. Retrieved 12 January 2017.
  19. ^ "The Role of Tidal Lagoons" (PDF). Hendryreview.files.wordpress.com. Retrieved 2017-07-06.
  20. ^ Jonathan Ford (15 January 2017). "(Paywall) Tidal power swamped by dubious mathematics". Financial Times. Retrieved 15 January 2017.
  21. ^ Swansea tidal lagoon review head Charles Hendry 'hopeful' BBC
  22. ^ "Projects - Tidal Lagoon". Tidal Lagoon. Retrieved 2017-11-05.


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