The environment and the economy of South Wales could benefit from an estimated 4000 MW of clean energy by developing tidal and wave power.
With very high tides generally, and a mean tidal range of seven metres, the coast around South Wales is ideally placed to harness tidal power as the greater the tidal range, the more electricity is produced.
Having secured funding of £6.4m from the EU, a renewable energy company in Cardiff is set to trial such a project.
At a build cost of £11m, DeltraStream was invented by Richard Ayre, a Pembrokeshire engineer, and will be installed in 2012 for a twelve month period. Sitting directly on the seabed and requiring no anchors, the device will harness energy from the tidal currents in Ramsey Sound, converting them through three horizontal axis turbines into clean electricity for use in homes in the town of St. Davids.
The DeltraStream project is supported by the Welsh Government and the European Regional Development Fund, and has secured £4.5m of financial backing from its majority shareholder, a Cardiff-based renewable development company with landfill gas, wind and biomass projects across Europe. For the last three years, specialist design support has been provided by Cranfield University who will oversee and analyse the results of the project.
As tidal patterns are known with great accuracy, tidal and wave power are one of the most predictable sources of all sustainable energy, with devices capable of using both the ebb and flow tides being particularly efficient.