Swansea Council Leader Rob Stewart has welcomed Welsh government’s offer to invest in the building of the £1.3 billion Swansea Bay tidal lagoon.
Stewart deemed the First Minister’s offer, which follows months of behind the scenes discussions, as a significant breakthrough for the scheme.
To remind, Welsh First Minister Carwyn Jones offered ‘substantial investment’, speculated to be at least £100 million, to set the Swansea tidal lagoon project on a forward trajectory.
Stewart said: “This welcome announcement from the First Minister shows that support for the Swansea Bay Tidal Lagoon in Wales is overwhelming. This will provide substantial investment to help construct the Swansea Bay Tidal Lagoon, which is potentially a game changing moment for the project.
“Through this commitment, the First Minister has shown that the whole of Wales is behind this innovative, world first project, which sends another message to the UK Government to stop delaying and approve the scheme as soon as possible.
“It’s time that the dithering in London stopped, with a green light needed right now for work to start on the project. It’s unacceptable that there’s still no decision from the UK Government, despite a year having passed since Charles Hendry, the UK Government’s own independent inspector, concluding in a review that tidal lagoon power is a no regrets option.
“This is why I’m again calling on the Prime Minister to show leadership and act now for the benefit of Swansea and Wales.”
Stewart added the 320MW lagoon would create thousands of high quality jobs and generate zero carbon power for over a century for about 155,000 homes, while also leading to a global export market in Swansea because of the specialist turbines and other component parts that would be made there for other lagoons across the UK and beyond.
The developer behind the lagoon, Tidal Lagoon Power, is still awaiting subsidy agreement with the UK government to move ahead with the project. The company also needs to obtain permit from Natural Resources Wales to begin with any marine works related to the project.