Swansea Evening Post - 06 January 2007

It's free, plentiful and fickle is the title of the article by
Matthew L Wald (New York Times, December 28). In it, he
writes: "Engineers have cut the price of electricity derived from
wind by about 80 per cent in the last 20 years, setting up this
renewable technology for a major share of the electricity market. But
for all its promise, wind also generates a big problem; because it is
unpredictable and often fails to blow when electricity is most
needed. A wind machine is a bit like a bicycle that a commuter keeps
in the garage for sunny days. It saves petrol, but he has to own a
car anyway." On the other hand, energy from tides is entirely
predictable, and a series of lagoons and tidal stream devices can
generate continuous power. Britain has an excellent coastline for
power generation and Swansea Bay is one of the best locations for a
tidal lagoon. Also, high tide occurs at different times along the
coast. For example, the tide at Llandudno is about four and a half
hours later than Mumbles. So when tide is slack in one area, it is
still flowing a short distance away. The transmission grid would then
be a ring main, balancing supply and demand.

Tidal lagoons and tidal stream devices are quick and cheap to
construct, and have minimal visual and environmental impact. We need
to encourage these technologies.

The technology for tidal stream devices is still developing, and
would benefit from Government support, both political and financial.
Tidal lagoons are based on established technology. They have a
positive environmental impact, are cheap and quick to build, and last
indefinitely, with low maintenance costs.

As with all new concepts, finance is more difficult to obtain to
build the first one, but hopefully public subscription of the tidal
lagoon will succeed (Swansea Evening Post, December 18).

The Assembly government seems to be missing an opportunity to promote
and support one of the best green energy projects for Wales.