The 240MW Swansea Bay Tidal Lagoon project could be dealt a major blow this week with reports suggesting that the UK Government is set to reject the scheme.
Newswire reports have suggested that the government had already reached a negative decision on the scheme, but were exploring plans for other energy schemes before announcing its decision. It has been claimed the government believes the project is too expensive.
“We have a responsibility to minimise the impact on consumer bills and the Swansea proposal is more than twice as expensive as the Hinkley power station,” The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy said in a statement. “Any decision on the Swansea Bay tidal lagoon project will have to represent value for money for the UK taxpayer as well as the consumer.”
In January this year, Wales’ First Minister Carwyn Jones pledged financial support to help kick-start the project, and called on the UK government to “stop stalling” its decisions on the project. Jones said at the time that he is “ready and willing” to provide “further substantial investment” in the project to help it get off the ground. A figure of between £100 million and £200 million had been put forward by Jones’ government to kick-start development of the £1.3 billion scheme.
Developer Tidal Lagoon Power (TLP) has already been granted a £1.25 million loan from the Welsh government but the project is largely privately financed. The main backers are Infracapital, the Gupta family, Good Energy and over 300 individual investors.
In early 2017 a review into tidal lagoon technology commissioned by the government recommended the backing of the Swansea project in order to spur the development of a new industry in the UK.
