UK newspaper The Guardian reports that plans for a pioneering tidal power lagoon in Swansea Bay are expected to be supported by a government-commissioned report due out within the next few days.
When ministers in 2016 year ordered a review to see if the technology could provide affordable green energy to the UK, it was widely seen as a way to kill off an ambitious project at Swansea proposed by Tidal Lagoon Power.
But the independent review by former energy minister Charles Hendry will be broadly positive towards the £1.3bn prototype plan. The Swansea Bay scheme is seen as a trial for potentially five major plants around the country, at Cardiff, Newport, Colwyn Bay in north Wales, the Cumbrian coast and Bridgwater Bay in Somerset. Together they could provide about a tenth of the UK’s electricity needs and help meet carbon targets.
Mr Hendry has apparently visited communities which would potentially be involved in or affected by the lagoons, which he said had attracted “high expectations”. Tidal Lagoon Power has spent £35m on the Swansea project, which would see a six mile U-shaped sea wall built out into the bay to bring the incoming and outgoing tide through 16 turbines, generating around 320 MWe.
