Comment on Swansea Day Tidal Lagoon

Commenting on the news that the Government has ruled out supporting a tidal lagoon project on Swansea Bay, Richard Black, director of the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit (ECIU) said: “Tidal lagoons offer a unique blend of attributes in comparison with other renewable energy technologies, whatever the issues with this particular project - and today’s decision shouldn’t sound a death-knell for tidal generation.

“The opportunity for ministers and developers now is to learn from the path of other technologies, such as wind turbines and battery storage, and work out a better way to approach tidal power in future.

“The three obvious changes to make are to use competitive tendering, do a broad economic assessment that captures community benefits, and incentivise the flexible generation that tidal lagoons can provide. Get those right, and there could still be a place for tidal lagoons in Britain’s clean energy future.”