News Wales > Environment > Tidal lagoon power = could give Wales a competitive edge

Tidal lagoon power could give Wales a = competitive=20 edge

14/10/2004

Friends of the Earth Cymru says that significant quantities of = low cost=20 renewable electricity generated by tidal lagoons could give the = south and=20 north Wales economies a competitive edge by 2020.

The = group is=20 calling on the Welsh Assembly Government to reassess their = unsupportive=20 view of tidal lagoon technology following a positive report from a = leading=20 engineering consultancy.

The report, by independent = consultants WS=20 Atkins Engineering confirms that the generation of electricity by = tidal=20 lagoons as proposed by the company Tidal Electric Ltd is viable. = The=20 report also confirms that a proposed lagoon scheme in Swansea Bay = could=20 generate electricity cost-competitively.

Friends of the = Earth Cymru=20 says that the Assembly Government should now support Tidal = Electric Ltd in=20 the company's vision to generate electricity from the large tidal = energy=20 resources of the Severn Estuary.

The group say that = potential=20 investors in the proposed lagoon scheme in Swansea Bay, impounding = two=20 square miles of sea to supply the annual consumption of 30,000 = people,=20 will be looking to the Assembly and WDA for their view of the = technology.=20 If the Assembly and the Agency are unsupportive then that cannot = help=20 investor confidence.

Tidal Electric have said that Assembly = acknowledgement would be a useful starting point and some funding = for an=20 environmental impact assessment, of what could still be the = world's first=20 lagoon scheme, in Swansea Bay would greatly help. A scheme may be = built in=20 China. The Assembly Government has so far been non committal = because it=20 has been briefed by the DTI and WDA that Tidal Electric Ltd have=20 underestimated the costs of their technology.

Friends of = the Earth=20 Cymru points out that the DTI and WDA briefings have missed the = point that=20 the cost of electricity generated by lagoons is dependent on the = size of=20 the scheme, the tidal range and that the economies of scale are=20 significant. The DTI briefing appears to draw on the generation = cost of a=20 tiny scheme proposed by Tidal Electric to supply a small fishing = community=20 in a remote area of Alaska. Electricity from such a tiny scheme in = a low 3=20 metre tidal area is going to cost far more than very large lagoons = in the=20 globally high 13 metre tidal range of the Severn = Estuary.

Neil=20 Crumpton, a campaigner at Friends of the Earth Cymru, = said:

" The=20 WS Atkins report should persuade the Assembly Government that the = very=20 high tidal range in the Severn Estuary and Liverpool Bay could be = used to=20 generate potentially very large quantities of low-cost renewable=20 electricity by 2015 or 2020. Several lagoon schemes in the optimum = areas=20 of the Severn Estuary alone, if assessed as environmentally = benign, could=20 generate enough electricity to supply three and a half million = people or=20 about 6% of UK electricity demand.

" What's more, due to = the=20 economies of scale, the generation costs of large lagoons would be = below=20 three pence and as low as two pence per kilowatt hour. This would = be on=20 par or lower than the cost of electricity generated by gas and = would give=20 the south Wales economy a significant commercial edge globally in = an=20 environmentally conscious world. Similarly, a large scheme in = Liverpool=20 Bay could do the same for north Wales. "

The campaigners = are=20 calling on economic development minister Andrew Davies AM to = highlight the=20 potential of the technology where it is assessed to be = environmentally=20 benign.

Source: Friends of the Earth Cymru

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