Insurance and financial service giant Prudential has agreed to provide key “cornerstone” funding for the £1bn Swansea Bay Tidal Lagoon power generation project. The company building the UK’s first tidal lagoon project in Swansea has secured investment for further projects in the country through a stake sale to the commodity group Liberty House. Liberty and its sister company, Simec Group, which runs the Uskmouth power station in Newport, will buy a 10 per cent stake in Tidal Lagoon plc, according to a person familiar with the matter. The company hopes to build additional tidal lagoon projects in Cardiff and Newport, among other places. However, the news comes at a time when the political appetite for tidal power projects is in doubt, with David Cameron, prime minister, and others voicing concern at the costs involved. Tidal Lagoon Power, the parent company, aims to build a total of six tidal lagoons in the UK that it says could meet up to 8 per cent of the country’s electricity demand. The proposals have aroused interest in Westminster but politicians have expressed reservations about the level of subsidy needed to support the scheme.
FT 31st Jan 2016 read more »