Decision on Welsh tidal lagoon points to independent Wales needed to manage Welsh energy needs

The decision on whether to build a proposed £1.3bn tidal lagoon in Swansea Bay is likely to be announced next week. It has been reported that the UK government is set to reject the plans. Tidal Lagoon Power (TLP) who are behind the scheme said it could provide power for 120,000 homes for 120 years and that the unit price of power from a pathfinder project at Swansea Bay need cost no more than the unit price of power from Hinkley Point C [nuclear plant], which has already received government backing. 

The UK government has continually refused to commit to the project even though in January 2018, the Welsh Government offered the project "substantial investment" to help reduce the subsidy required. A UK government-commissioned report published in January 2017 also said that the scheme should get the go-ahead. But UK ministers are likely to reject the proposed tidal lagoon. The issue once again raises the whole issue of energy production in Wales and how an independent Wales would be in a better position to decide on the appropriate sources of energy that would suite the country.

Plaid Cymru - Party of Wales has consistently called for a not-for-profit Welsh energy company. They point out that even though Wales has a thousand miles of coastline, five million acres of land and a number of untapped natural resources, it produces less renewable energy than elsewhere in the UK. As it stands Wales generates more electricity than it consumes and yet has some of the highest electricity costs in Europe. Plaid Cymru has called for a national energy company for Wales that will use the profits from Wales’ abundant renewable resources to cut the cost of energy for consumers.