On the Atlantic coast, near the city of Swansea, a loop of 9.5 km of dams will be built, covering 11.5 km2 of the surface of the bay. Turbines will be built into the dam slopes, converting the energy of the ebb and flow into electricity: the new power plant has a design capacity of 240 megawatts and an installed capacity of 320 megawatts. It will generate more than 500 gigawatt-hours per year, enough to power 156,000 private homes and apartments - about 90% of the Swansea Bay's energy needs, or 11% of Wales.
Swansea Bay was selected to create
It is no coincidence that the world's first such lagoon: there is an unusually high amplitude of tides (8.5 m in spring), which makes it possible to generate energy 14 hours a day. Once the effectiveness of such facilities has been proven here, the project owner, Tidal Lagoon Power Ltd, plans to build similar lagoons in other parts of the UK, as the ebb and flow are very reliable (due to their immutability) sources of renewable energy.
The task of LDA Design was, in addition to creating a master plan, also to give this large-scale infrastructure project a "human dimension". The lagoon's proximity to Swansea, the second largest city in Wales, and popular attractions give it a high tourism potential. Therefore, it is planned not only to arrange a promenade park on the dams, which can also be used for sports, but also to create new parks at the points where the lagoon adjoins the coast and turn the 2.5 km of coastline adjacent to it into a full-fledged embankment.
In addition to the infrastructure for water sports, the project involves the creation of educational institutions and a visitor center (as a sustainable "generator" of renewable energy, the lagoon itself can serve as a visual aid for eco-learning), cultural centers, works of monumental art.
Among the complexities of the project, LDA architects name the creation of structures that can withstand the aggressive marine environment (up to 3.5 km from the coast): the projected life of the lagoon is 120 years. The estimated construction time is 2015–2018.
