Swansea Bay Tidal Lagoon

The Swansea Bay Tidal Lagoon (SBTL) was a plan to install a tidal plant at Swansea Port, approximately 2.2 km southeast of Swansea city center. The construction of an approximately 9.5 km-long, U-shaped seawall would impound approximately 11.5 km² of the seabed, foreshore and intertidal area of Swansea Bay. Bi-directional hydro turbines located in the south west side of the Lagoon would harness energy from the tidal range during both incoming and outgoing tides. Up to sixteen 20 MW turbines, and eight sluice gates, were expected to be installed as part of the project.

The project was awarded a development consent order (DCO) in 2015, but over the next few years struggled to procure all the remaining permits needed to initiate marine works (on account on at times environmental and later economical concerns by the local jurisdictions). In December 2018, eleven companies expressed their interest in the project, with some indicting they would deliver the entire project. In December 2019, TLSB launched a fundraising bid to support the commencement of land-based material works before the development consent order (DCO) expired on 30 June 2020. Works on the site were initiated on 29 June 2020, but on 30 June the DCO lapsed and therefore, according to Swansea Council, no part of the previously authorized development could proceed in the absence of further order or other consent. Therefore, the project was cancelled.

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Project Manager

Tidal Lagoon Power

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)?

Inactive

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>

Canceled

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

320 MW

Project Duration

2015 - 2020

Energy Resource

Tidal

Project Scale

Full-scale

Number of Devices

16

Grid Connectivity

Grid Connected

Waterbody

Swansea Bay

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>

Enclosed Bay

Country

United Kingdom

Environmental Details

Tethys Metadata

Last Modified

9 June 2025

Citation Formats

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

Marine Energy Projects Database: Projects. <year>. "Swansea Bay Tidal Lagoon." Accessed <monthRoman> <day>, <year>. https:https://openei.org/wiki/PRIMRE/Databases/Projects_Database/Projects/Swansea_Bay_Tidal_Lagoon.

PRIMRE/Databases/Projects Database/Projects/Swansea Bay Tidal Lagoon

Swansea Bay Tidal Lagoon

Citation Formats