The Welsh Government has taken an £8 million equity stake in what will become the largest consented tidal energy project in Europe.
The Morlais tidal scheme is set to kick off operations next year and is owned and managed by Ynys Môn (Anglesey) social enterprise Menter Môn.
The government has said it has made the investment to ensure progress on the tidal energy project.
It said that the cash it has pledged will support the Cydnerth phase of the project, which will see the grid connection strengthened at Parc Cybi, Holyhead.
This comes as part of the Welsh Government’s plans to “make Wales a world centre for emerging tidal technologies,” said cabinet secretary for economy, energy and planning, Rebecca Evans.
The Morlais project has the potential to produce 240MW of electricity, enough to power up to 180,000 typical Welsh homes.
The project’s backers describe Morlais as the only project of its kind globally, with a unique “plug and play” model for developers of tidal energy devices. Morlais will install infrastructure including a connection to the national grid and a substation on the shore near Ynys Lawd (South Stack) and Parc Cybi. It will then rent berths to turbine development companies who will use tidal energy to generate electricity. According to the project website, this could result in different types of electricity generation technology being installed offshore as part of Morlais.
One of the tidal developers expected to participate in the project is Inyanga Marine Energy Group’s HydroWing, which has been awarded two contracts for difference (CfDs) in the UK government’s 2023 and 2024 allocation rounds, each for 10 MW of capacity. The company recently raised £496,615 for its tidal energy technology in a crowdfunding round that closed in December.
Menter Môn is planning to develop the Morlais site step by step, with devices being phased in, in an effort to avoid harm to marine wildlife. The Welsh government’s investment will help to fund the Cydnerth phase of the project, which will entail the grid connection being strengthened at Parc Cybi.
According to the government’s announcement, Morlais will be operational from 2026.
Welsh Cabinet Secretary for Economy, Energy and Planning Rebecca Evans said the government wanted to make Wales a “world centre” for emerging tidal technologies.
“Our investment will support Menter Môn Morlais to scale up capacity and develop an industrial cluster for tidal energy and innovation in North Wales, whilst delivering jobs and growth through its pioneering technology, keeping the value local,” Evans stated. She added that she expected this to further benefit “clean energy suppliers of all sizes”.
Menter Môn welcomed the announcement, with managing director Dafydd Gruffydd saying the funding supported the organisation’s vision for positioning North Wales as a leader in tidal energy innovation.
“This funding demonstrates the Welsh government’s commitment to renewable energy and the significant role tidal power can play in our energy future,” added Menter Môn Morlais’ chair, John Idris Jones.
The announcement comes about two weeks after Morlais said it had partnered with the Crown Estate to provide access to environmental survey data gathered off the coast of Anglesey. The data were collected during the first phase of the Morlais-led Marine Characterisation Research Project (MCRP) and will be hosted on the Marine Data Exchange (MDE).
The Crown Estate launched the MDE in 2013 as a first-of-its-kind database aimed at supporting sustainable development of the seabed while protecting the UK’s marine environment.
MCRP consists of over 40 terabytes of data from multiple sources, with outputs including a range of work packages, covering bird and marine mammal monitoring. The MCRP’s project manager, Helen Roberts, described the release of this data to the public as a “game-changer” for tidal energy. The release is aimed at making the data available to researchers, policymakers and developers with a view to advancing renewable and tidal energy.
As part of the UK Government’s Allocation Round (AR) scheme, the funding set aside for emerging technologies like tidal more than doubled last year under Starmer.
Among the winners of last year’s AR6 were six projects that received backing, unlocking 28MW of capacity.
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