Morlais

Morlais is a Menter Môn commercial project and is currently the largest consented tidal energy site in Europe. The Morlais project manages a 35km² area of seabed off the coast of Holy Island, Anglesey and has the potential to put Ynys Môn on the map in terms of tidal stream energy. The project and the way in which it will operate is unique in that Morlais will install the necessary infrastructure in the zone, including a connection to the national grid and an onshore substation near Ynys Lawd (South Stack) and Parc Cybi, and will then rent berths to various turbine development companies so they can deploy their own tidal devices to generate electricity. The developers will become tenants of Morlais and pay for the right to use the site and infrastructure. This arrangement is intended to provide developers with a reduced risk model for deploying their technology on a commercial scale. This may mean different types of electricity generation technology will be installed at sea as part of Morlais.
The first stage of the project focused on securing consent from Welsh Government and Natural Resources Wales. Community and stakeholder consultation and engagement was key part of this process. The application was submitted in the autumn of 2019 consent was awarded in December 2021.
The second stage of the project has been focused on installing the necessary infrastructure for developers of tidal turbines to deploy their devices. The site will be separated into 8 berths, each with a 30 MW capacity, for a total consented capacity of up to 240 MW. Implementation will be phased which means devices will be installed gradually to ensure that the development does not negatively impact marine wildlife. Several technology developers from around the world have already agreed to work with Morlais and deploy their technology at the site. In March 2024, Morlais reported that the landfall substation near South Stack and cabling to the grid connection site at nearby Parc Cybi were finished. The first turbines are expected to be deployed at sea by 2027 (8.6 MW by Magallanes Renewables and 20 MW by Hydrowing) and 2028 (4.5 MW by Môr Energy and 4.9 MW by Verdant Isles) for a total planned capacity of 38 MW.

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Project Manager

Menter Mon

Additional Information

Project Website

Project Status Is the project actively being planned or is deployed in the water (active)? Or was the project canceled or completed (inactive)?

Active

Project Life Cycle Project Progress through life cycle:<ul> <li>Planned: Project has identified a deployment location and is preparing for deployment</li> <li>Operational: Project is deployed in the water and is active</li> <li>Completed: Project was previously deployed in the water</li> <li>Decommissioned: Installation has been fully removed in accordance with regulations</li> <li>Canceled: Project was canceled before being deployed in the water</li></ul>

Planned

Max Rated Power Capacity The maximum amount of electricity that can be produced by project, based on available resources and device nameplate capacity.

38 MW

Project Start Year

2019

Energy Resource

Tidal

Project Scale

Full-scale

Grid Connectivity

Grid Connected

Waterbody

Irish Sea, Wales

Site Characteristics Geographic characterization for the project location:<ul> <li>Open Ocean: Main body of ocean, not enclosed or partially enclosed by land</li> <li>Coastal: Open water near the coast, spanning between land and shelf boundary</li> <li>Enclosed Bay: water that is partially surrounded by land, with a mouth open to larger water</li> <li>Constricted Channel: A channel where water flows quickly due to narrowing by the land</li> <li>River: Water flowing from land towards a larger body of water</li></ul>

Coastal

Country

United Kingdom

Last Modified

13 June 2025

This Project has the following MRE Devices

Citation Formats

“Morlais.” Marine Energy Projects Database: Projects, PRIMRE, United States Department of Energy, https:https://openei.org/wiki/PRIMRE/Databases/Projects_Database/Projects/Morlais. Accessed <day> <monthRoman> <year>.

Marine Energy Projects Database: Projects. <year>. "Morlais." Accessed <monthRoman> <day>, <year>. https:https://openei.org/wiki/PRIMRE/Databases/Projects_Database/Projects/Morlais.

PRIMRE/Databases/Projects Database/Projects/Morlais

Morlais

This Project has the following MRE Devices

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