Stop dragging your heels over lagoon plan, Government told
THE massive Swansea Bay Tidal Lagoon project has been backed by a key Labour frontbencher who has called for the UK Government to give the scheme sign-off.
Rebecca Long-Bailey, shadow secretary of state for business, energy and industrial strategy, said she was impressed by the scale of the planned £1.3bn project after visiting the site.
Ms Long-Bailey urged Secretary of State Greg Clark to sign off a financial support package to make the energy scheme viable.
She said: “We can see the benefits of the lagoon for Swansea, not just in terms of tourism but the manufacturing jobs it’s going to create.
“It is not just this lagoon – this is a ‘pathfinder’ for others to be replicated up and down the country, and then exported to other parts of the world.
“We have a really big sector we can build. This project needs to see a sign-off soon.”
Developer Tidal Lagoon Power needs 12 months to get its financial contracts into place before any work can start, and also needs to begin construction in spring for weather reasons.
This means that hopes for a start in spring 2018 on the four-year project will start receding unless a decision, or at least a timetable, is established soon.
Mr Clark is due to attend the Conservative Spring Forum today and tomorrow in Cardiff – and after that no announcement is expected from March 20 until the local government elections in early May.
Ms Long-Bailey said she understood the financial support discussions, plus those relating to a marine licence and Crown Estate agreement were ongoing, but urged action.
“We are asking the Government to stop dragging its heels and ensure a strike price is concluded as soon as possible,” she said.
It is understood that Tidal Lagoon Power is discussing different finance options with the UK Government, with one potential contract the equivalent of £89.90 per megawatt hour for 90 years of the lagoon’s 120-year duration.
In comparison, the consumerfunded support for the new nuclear power plant for Hinkley Point C in Somerset is £92.50 for 35 years.
Tidal Lagoon Power has stressed that costs would come down if and when it built a fleet of larger UK lagoons, including ones off the coasts of Cardiff and Newport.
The Swansea project, which would comprise a six-mile seawall and 16 spinning turbines between the Tawe and Neath river channels, received strong backing in an independent review by former energy minister Charles Hendry this year.
“Moving ahead with a ‘pathfinder’ lagoon is, I believe, a no-regrets policy,” he said.
Mr Hendry, who suggested a 60-year subsidy, said it would be unreasonable for competitive bids to be put in for the Swansea project but that a competition process should be set up for the delivery of larger lagoons elsewhere.
He also cited the low-carbon benefits of tidal lagoon energy, which was echoed by Mrs LongBailey.
“The climate change element (of the lagoon) is a no-brainer,” she said.
“We have got to meet our targets. We have got to invest in this sector.”
Asked how much Labour would be prepared to offer Tidal Lagoon Power if she was in the ministerial hot seat, she said: “We are not dedicated to one particular strike price (subsidy level).”
Tidal Lagoon Power has spent tens of millions of pounds progressing the Swansea lagoon, which has planning consent, and has pledged that 50% of the project spend would be in Wales.
Two years ago the then shadow secretary of state for energy and climate change, Caroline Flint, had warm words for the Swansea Bay Tidal Lagoon when she went out on a boat.
Neath MP and shadow Secretary of State for Wales Christina Rees, who joined Labour colleague Mrs Long-Bailey out on the bay, said: “The Hendry report was more explicit than we could have dreamed of. It has been a mystery for the last two years why the UK Government has been dragging its heels.”
The UK Government has offered broad support for tidal lagoon energy but has also said that consumers must not be burdened with high subsidy costs. It has also not been drawn on the ongoing discussions with Tidal Lagoon Power.
Mrs Rees said MPs in Wales would keep the matter “in the Government’s eye”.