An iconic, world-first infrastructure project in South West Wales
Swansea Bay Tidal Lagoon will be the world’s first tidal lagoon power plant.
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. We generate electricity on both the incoming and outgoing tides, four times a day, every day.
Due to the incredible tides on the West Coast of Britain, by keeping the turbine gates shut for just three hours, there is already a 14 foot height difference in water between the inside and the outside of the lagoon. Power is then generated as the water rushes through 200ft long draft tubes, rotating the 23ft diameter hydro turbines.
Swansea Bay Tidal Lagoon received planning consent in 2015 and will comprise 16 hydro turbines, a six mile breakwater wall, generating electricity for 155,000 homes for the next 120 years.
The 320MW pathfinder project provides a scalable blueprint for our programme, opening up the option of a fleet of larger UK tidal lagoons to generate renewable electricity at a scale and low cost not seen before.
Our aim is to start construction works on site in 2017, with the marine works (construction of the breakwaters/bund walls) commencing in early Spring 2018. Construction of the entire project will take a maximum of five years to complete.
This information comes from the website of Tidal Lagoon Power.