HydroWing reveals plans for tidal energy project in Wales

The plans follow the recent announcement that HydroWing has been awarded a contract for a 10MW tidal stream energy project in Wales from the government’s latest Contracts for Difference round.

Managed by Menter Môn, the Morlais site is the UK’s largest consented tidal energy scheme. The site is said to have the potential to generate up to 240MW of low carbon clean electricity for the National Grid and on-shore substations, by renting berths to various turbine development companies.

According to HydroWing, work has started on delivering their project, including engaging with local stakeholders and supply chain companies.

Research has already been conducted in partnership with Bangor University to assess the velocity of local tide currents. The outputs are said to have been ‘encouraging’ in informing expectations on the yield characteristics of the site.

In a statement, Richard Parkinson, MD of Inyanga Marine Energy Group, the parent company for HydroWing, said: “This ground-breaking project will launch our innovative tidal stream technology at utility scale. Commercialisation of the tidal energy sector has so far been held back by high operations and maintenance costs. Our next generation technology meets that challenge head on.”