Bangor University hosted a 2-day tidal lagoon research workshop in the recently opened Marine Centre Wales in Menai Bridge, Isle of Anglesey.
The event was attended by around 50 people, including 30 academics from institutions across the UK including Manchester, Imperial, Oxford, Lancaster, Plymouth, Liverpool, Edinburgh, Cardiff, Swansea, Bangor, and the National Oceanography Centre, along with industry and environmental representatives from Tidal Lagoon Power, North Wales Tidal Energy, The Crown Estate, Black & Veatch, and Natural Resources Wales.
Presentations ranged from examining the tidal range resource over a variety of timescales, including climate change, how best the resource can be optimized, and the environmental impacts of multiple tidal lagoons, National Research Network for Low Carbon Energy and Environment (NRN-LCEE) informed.
The discussions at the workshop, held on May 17-18, resulted in three draft review articles – one on resource and optimization, and two on the impacts of tidal lagoons.
It is hoped that these peer-reviewed articles can feed into the forthcoming DECC independent review into the feasibility and practicality of tidal lagoons in the UK.