Video: Swansea Bay tidal lagoon

The video shows what the proposed tidal lagoon in the Swansea Bay would look like once constructed, emphasizing the wider benefits it could bring to Swansea aside from electricity generation.

Following yesterday’s endorsement the construction of the Swansea Bay tidal lagoon project received from the former UK energy minister Charles Hendry who led the review into the viability of tidal lagoon energy, Tidal Energy Today is bringing you the ‘inspirational video’ of the Swansea Bay tidal lagoon, as described by RenewableUK.

A tidal lagoon is a ‘U’ shaped breakwater, built out from the coast which has a bank of hydro turbines in it. Water fills up and empties the man-made lagoon as the tides rise and fall. The is generated on both the incoming and outgoing tides, four times a day, every day, according to Tidal Lagoon Power, the developer behind the project.

The £1.3 billion Swansea Bay project, with the capacity of 320MW, will comprise 16 hydro turbines, a six mile breakwater wall, generating electricity for 155,000 homes for the next 120 years.

Aside from supporting the construction of the Swansea Bay tidal lagoon as the pathfinder for the tidal lagoon industry, in the government-commissioned review it is stated that tidal lagoons can help deliver security of power supply, assist in delivering UK’s climate change commitments, and bring real and substantial opportunities for the UK supply chain.

Tidal energy industry welcomed the news yesterday, with some of the reactions included in this article, such as the one from the Party of Wales which called the review results as ‘as a potentially game-changing moment for the tidal lagoon industry.’

Party of Wales Leader, Leanne Wood, said: “The report backing the tidal lagoon is game-changing news for Swansea and for the nation. We now need to ensure that the project generates and delivers local jobs. Swansea needs these big investments and to act as an industrial hub for the west, creating work for people in the city and also people in Carmarthenshire and Pembrokeshire.”

Tidetec, a Norwegian developer of tidal energy solutions applicable to tidal lagoons, said in a statement: “The tidal lagoon market is characterized by enormous projects, and therefore significant political risk – a risk that today has been reduced significantly by a positive review conducted by former UK Energy minister Sir Charles Hendry. The review supports kick-off of the first prototype 320MW Swansea lagoon, and five other planned sites.”

Professor Iwan Davies, Senior Pro-Vice-Chancellor at Swansea University, said: “This is excellent news, as the tidal lagoon would be a major boost to the University, Swansea and the wider region. Swansea has a proud history of innovation: from copper and steel to the world’s first passenger railway. The lagoon would show that, once again, Swansea can be where the future happens first.”