Tidal lagoon plans move forward

Tidal Lagoon Power's proposed Cardiff Bay plant will require 90 turbines

Tidal Lagoon Power's proposed second plant in Cardiff Bay is likely to spur a £1.75 billion order for power turbines as it seeks to increase the scale of facilities and cut costs, the company's chief executive has told a conference in Germany.

The company is currently planning its second plant in Cardiff Bay, which will need 90 turbines – bigger than the project in Swansea Bay that previously received permission to install 16 machines costing £300 million.

Speaking on 25 September at the opening of a new research centre for General Electric in Berlin, CEO Mark Shorrock said TLP's proposed network of tidal lagoons would provide a huge boost to the Welsh economy.

“We are going to lose 21,000MW of installed capacity over the next nine years in the UK due to the loss of eight nuclear reactors and nine power stations,” Shorrock said at the event. “The way forward now is predictable renewable energy, and once you've built this amenity you have a very certain power station.”

The turbines in the Swansea Bay lagoon generate power by taking advantage of the rise and fall of the tide, which at between 20ft and 30ft, is one of the highest in the world. This is harnessed by building a huge seawall with 16 turbines. As the tide rises, the turbines generate power due to water flowing through them, and fill up the lagoon. 

UK renewable energy developers are trying to bring down costs as the government reduces assistance to the industry. Shorrock believes it is possible for the follow-on lagoon projects at Cardiff and Newport to shrink the power price to below £100 per MW/H. Tidal Lagoon Power will also benefit from cost savings in its second project due to the need for a shorter wall relative to the size of the project.

“When you want to have cheap power and get to a paradigm that renewables in the sea haven't got to yet, you have to have bigger lagoons. The second lagoon in Cardiff is in the planning process and we have said to British government that we will give them £10 per MW/H for 75% of the life of this project. With this contract, we give more money to government than they give us in subsidy.

The turbines for the Swansea project will be supplied by General Electric along with Andritz AG. Shorrock said: “For less than 1% of the UK’s annual subsidy spend, the Swansea Bay tidal lagoon gives you a scalable blueprint for a secure, long-lived power supply that is low in cost and carbon, as well as seeding a new global industry here in the UK. In Cardiff, the next lagoon after Swansea, we only have to build double the wall length.

“The holy grail for everyone has always been a predictable renewable power. We know exactly how much the water is going to rise and fall because of the dance between planet Earth and the moon.

“We think there is great potential in the UK for this technology and will continue to invest in making it a reality.”