Manmade Tidal Lagoon could change the future of clean energy.

The Swansea Bay Tidal Lagoon will be the world’s first ever plant to generate electricity using its own novel method. Should it prove successful, the plant’s template could be adopted worldwide as a way of generating green power while simultaneously providing sea wall protection to coastal communities.

Just outside the Welsh city of Swansea, the U.K. is planning one of the most innovative power plants ever constructed. It’s not the plant’s size that is striking, though it could ultimately provide power to 155,000 homes for 120 years. It’s the source of its power that breaks ground, tides channeled into an artificially constructed lagoon.

Tidal electricity generation in itself is nothing new, of course. Tidal power stations have been producing electricity since France built the world’s first in 1966. Swansea’s tidal lagoon model nonetheless takes the technology to a new stage, making it more adaptable and softening its environmental impact. Tidal power plants built so far work on the tidal barrage model, where embedded turbines within a dam are strung across a site that has naturally strong and reliable tidal flow, typically an estuary. As the tide flows through, the barrage’s blockage creates a difference in water levels, the resulting pressure pushing water through the turbines to generate electricity. The key limitation of this model is that it only works in sites where tides pass through some form of easily bridgeable gap.

The tidal lagoon model gets round this problem by actually altering the coastline to create the correct conditions. Instead of bridging a river mouth, it requires the construction of what is effectively an artificial harbor, a stretch of water enclosed by a semicircular, rock-clad barrier built up from the seabed. A harbor mouth is created within this barrier, where the inflow and outflow of water powers a set of turbines. Swansea’s barrier will be 5.9 miles long when constructed, with a mouth fitted with up to 26 turbines.

Constructing the correct conditions in this way rather than looking for places where they occur naturally greatly increases the number of potential sites for tidal power stations. As a byproduct, it can also create a new public amenity. Swansea’s barrage will host a walkway, fishing spots, an aquatic community farm and a visitors’ center, while its protected lagoon could also host watersports events. The model also opens up the possibility of future barrages that have a double function. They could be built as offshore sea walls designed to protect vulnerable coastal communities, and simultaneously provide these communities with a green, renewable source of energy. Once construction is complete, these seawalls-cum-power plants could theoretically be almost carbon neutral.

The company, Tidal Lagoon Swansea Bay, has earmarked spring 2017 as the start date, although smaller-scale onshore works could start next autumn. The construction period is four years, meaning the first electricity generated from the lagoon’s 16 turbines would be 2021.

MP Mr Davies said: “The UK Conservative Government is fully committed to this massive scheme. “When such huge sums of money are involved, it is incumbent on everyone to ensure that the taxpayers, who will be buying the electricity produced, get value for money. “Everybody, from David Cameron and George Osborne down, are totally behind this exciting project, which will be a world first for Swansea.” The Prime Minster said the lagoon could “transform” the Swansea Bay area .

For more information please visit: http://www.tidallagoonswanseabay.com

 

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