Over 100 business people and organizations from South West Wales have signed a letter to UK’s Prime Minister Theresa May urging for the green light for the tidal lagoon in Swansea Bay.
The letter, signed by Tata Steel UK, Penderyn, Swansea Bay Business Club, WRW Construction, Swansea City FC and the Ospreys, among others, will be handed over today, November 20, 2017, to the UK Prime Minister by Nigel Short, Penderyn owner and Rob Stewart, the leader of the Swansea Council.
The companies that have signed the letter employ more than 30,000 people altogether, according to ITV news.
The signatories of the letter said they firmly believe the Swansea Bay tidal lagoon project would help transform the Swansea economy, put Wales at the forefront of green energy generation and ensure Britain lead the way in research and development of cutting-edge engineering and tidal lagoon technology.
“Enough is enough. Investor confidence in the scheme means a decision is time-critical, so I’m calling on the prime minister to listen to the people of south Wales and approve this project now,” Stewart was quoted as saying by BBC.
Tidal Lagoon Power, the developer behind the proposed Tidal Lagoon Swansea Bay project, worth £1.3 billion, is still awaiting the subsidy agreement with the UK government despite being backed by a government-commissioned review, conducted by former energy minister Charles Hendry.
The review , published in January 2017, concluded that moving forward with the Swansea Bay tidal lagoon project would be a ‘no-regrets policy’.
Nigel Short said: “We’ve been waiting for the decision for a long time and I think it’s time to move now. We need clean energy; we need sustainable energy; and we need energy which is baseload. I think it’s very important to show the vision, and the leadership to get on with this very exciting new technology.”
The proposed Swansea Bay tidal lagoon would have the capacity of 320MW, comprising 16 hydro turbines, and a six mile breakwater wall. It would be able to generate electricity for 155,000 Welsh homes for the next 120 years, according to the developer.