Letter Professor Chris Binnie: Greg Clark says that the Swansea tidal lagoon was rejected as it is three times as expensive as Hinkley C, but his calculations are suspect. The tidal lagoon would be expensive to build, but once built it could go on for 120 years with minimal refurbishment cost. And letter Prof Roger Kemp: The government’s rejection of the Swansea tidal lagoon is extremely disappointing. Greg Clark says that wind energy is cheaper, bu t it’s a false comparison: we can predict the tides years in advance but it is difficult to look more than a week ahead with wind.
Times 28th June 2018 read more »
Letter Gideon Amos: When I and my fellow planning inspectors spent the best part of a year examining and reporting on both the principle and the detail of the project in Swansea, it was clear that this pathfinder project had important environmental, cultural and regeneration benefits. Vitally, it would provide baseload generation capacity to complement our welcome but increasing reliance on wind energy. In addition, while being “first of a kind” presents big investment and consenting headaches for a promoter, the potentially infinite lifespan of the generating station means these early upfront costs need to be discounted over a much longer timeframe than other projects. Failing to weigh these benefits and costs in the Treasury economist’s balance sheet is a major mistake and one that misses a massive opportunity to put the planet back at the centre of our nation’s future.
Guardian 27th June 2018 read more »
The Nuclear Free Local Authorities (NFLA) is hugely disappointed in the decision announced on Monday by UK Business and Energy Secretary Greg Clark to cancel potential financial support for the Swansea Tidal Lagoon scheme. This is a retrograde step for a nascent and exciting technology, and compares negatively with the billions being offered to prop up new nuclear reactor schemes like Wylfa B.
NFLA 27th June 2018 read more »
