Tidal Lagoon Power has named Graham Hillier as its Managing Director for Development Services.
He will join the company later in the spring to oversee the provision of in-house environmental, planning and property services to each of Tidal Lagoon Power’s projects subsequent to the Swansea Bay Tidal Lagoon, the company informed.
Currently an Executive Director at Natural Resources Wales, Graham previously worked for a decade at the Environment Agency in Wales. His twenty years in the private sector included roles with Wimpey Environmental and Fugro GEOS, where he served as a Director of its Ocean Numerics joint venture and provided marine environmental science services to industry and governments worldwide.
He is Chair of the Chartered Institution of Water and Environmental Management (CIWEM) in Wales and is a Fellow of the Institute of Marine Engineering, Science and Technology. His qualifications include a BSc in Geography & Oceanography, an MSc in Marine Geotechnics and an MBA.
Having developed proposals for the world’s first tidal lagoon power plant in Swansea Bay, Tidal Lagoon Power is now developing a further five full-scale tidal lagoons in UK waters. When he joins the business, Graham will focus on assisting the development of these future projects. Between them, the six lagoons could meet 8% of the UK’s electricity for 120 years.
Mark Shorrock , Chief Executive of Tidal Lagoon Power, commented: “We are driving a critical change in the UK’s energy mix and central to this vision is the development of full-scale tidal lagoon infrastructure in the Severn Estuary. Harnessing the estuary’s enormous tidal range would provide affordable and sustainable renewable energy at a nuclear scale. But it’s a complex challenge and we must get it right. Tidal Lagoon Power is recruiting a best-in-class team to steer its developments in the areas of coastal processes, erosion, oceanography, managed realignment, flood protection and more. Graham’s experience will be invaluable in this respect and we look forward to welcoming him to the team.”
Graham Hillier said: “ I look forward to joining Tidal Lagoon Power at what is an exciting time for UK renewable energy. We are fortunate to have a significant and un-tapped resource in the tides around our coast and tidal lagoons offer fantastic potential for the UK to lead the world in truly sustainable energy generation.”
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