Engineering news
General Electric and Andritz Hydro have been named as preferred bidders for the £1 billion Swansea Bay Tidal Lagoon infrastructure project.
The two companies, bidding together for the £300 million contract to supply 16 bidirectional turbines to the world's first tidal lagoon power plant, have committed to using a majority of British components, and to the operation of a dockside Turbine Assembly Plant in Wales that will employ an initial 100 skilled workers. The turbines will be based on Andritz Hydro technology.
GE will manufacture and assemble key components in the UK. The project’s 16 generators – the highest value component in the 700 tonne turbines - will be produced at GE's Rugby facility, sustaining employment and investment there. In addition, GE is working on plans to potentially reshore its medium voltage switchboard operations for the UK tidal lagoon industry at its Kidsgrove facility. This could create further jobs.
GE and Andritz Hydro have said they will use British suppliers for turbine and generator components. In addition Tidal Lagoon Power, developer of the Swansea Bay Tidal Lagoon, has shortlisted three potential sites in the Swansea Bay City Region, comprising Swansea, Neath Port Talbot, Carmarthenshire and Pembrokeshire, for a 100,000 sq ft Turbine Assembly Plant that it says will increase operations as the sector develops at home and internationally.
Initially employing 100 skilled workers and capable of shipping one 7.35m diameter runner turbine a month, the company expects the plant to scale up operations by six times by 2018, shipping at least one turbine a week as the UK moves to the construction of full-scale tidal lagoons.
Tidal Lagoon Power intends to follow the Swansea Bay Tidal Lagoon, scheduled to commence construction later this year, with five full-scale tidal lagoons in UK waters. Between them, the six projects could provide 8% of the UK's electricity for the next 120 years. Last year, a report by the Centre for Economics and Business Research found that the emergence of a global tidal lagoon industry could present an export industry valued at £70 billion to the UK economy.
Mark Shorrock, chief executive at Tidal Lagoon Power, said: "Tidal lagoons will employ British industry to harness a natural resource. We are now well placed to meet the targets we set ourselves for half of the capital expenditure for the Swansea Bay Tidal Lagoon to stay in Wales, rising to 65% for the UK as a whole. The project will lay the strongest possible foundations for a brand new industry in which Britain can lead the world.
"Over the past two years, our team has been lucky enough to work alongside the world’s three largest hydro turbine manufacturers who between them are responsible for some 70% of all hydro turbines ever sold. Together, we have iterated a bespoke turbine design for Swansea Bay that delivers 93% efficiency on the ebb tide and 81% efficiency on the flood tide."
General Electric and Andritz Hydro have also been selected as preferred bidders for the £25 million contract to manage the operations and maintenance of the Swansea Bay Tidal Lagoon power plant for a minimum of five years.