There’s a little wave of interest in tidal lagoon power this week, as the Tidal Lagoon Power company has announced plans for a further five possible projects, after their ambitious pilot scheme in Swansea.
As you may remember, the Swansea project entails a five mile wall built around Swansea Bay. It would contain the tide and channel it through turbines, generating electricity on the way in and the way out. Being the first in the world and highly experimental, it’s not cheap – but the infrastructure is expected to last 120 years. Along with that century of clean power comes a host of new leisure opportunities around the wall and its path, and a major learning opportunity for future tidal schemes.
The Swansea project is already in planning, and has broad support. We will know in June if it is to go ahead. The other five are speculative, a series of places that could be similarly transformed if the environmental assessments go well. If all of them were built, they could provide 8% of Britain’s electricity. The proposed Cardiff Bay lagoon would be the second project and the first large scale tidal lagoon power station, generating enough to power every home in Wales.
It’s not uncontroversial, but this is a major technology to watch, as it could provide some of the heavy lifting in a future renewable energy power system. Here’s a useful video that sums up how it works: