Following ongoing engagement with key stakeholders and organisations, Tidal Lagoon Power (TLP) has launched Ecosystems Enhancement Programme strategy that will run alongside tidal lagoon development programme.
The strategy is expected to demonstrate that zero carbon energy schemes can provide large scale power while investing in the local economy and the natural environment, TLP informed.
It sets out how TLP will meet its legal requirements, and go beyond by creating large areas of mudflat, saltmarsh and grazing marsh, and by improving reens and rivers for fish, whilst providing other biodiversity enhancements, according to TLP.
Mark Shorrock , CEO of TLP, said: “Economic growth doesn’t necessarily have to be associated with degradation of the environment; quite the reverse – reverence for nature must be at the heart of our economy. Our model for tidal lagoons combines the delivery of clean affordable energy with large scale biodiversity conservation. It is my ambition and belief that this can and should be done, and is what every developer should do.
“The time to change our approach to infrastructure development is now; and tidal lagoons will be homegrown. They will deliver green growth which in turn will deliver long term jobs and they must deliver for nature.”
TLP is the developer behind the 320 MW Swansea Bay tidal lagoon project, which was granted a planning consent on June 9, 2015, by the UK Secretary of State, Amber Rudd.
Once constructed, the £1 billion Swansea Bay tidal lagoon project is expected to cover annual electricity requirements of over 155,000 homes, or over 90% of homes in the Swansea Bay area.