Tidal Lagoon Power
Picture: Swansea Bay Tidal Lagoon - artist's impression, courtesy Tidal Lagoon Power
We are delighted that Tidal Lagoon Power Ltd will be presenting at our forum in March. Alex Herbert, Head of Consents will be describing the importance of the company's work in Swansea, Wales and the beneficial impact on energy resources.
Tidal Lagoon Power stated: 'Swansea Bay Tidal Lagoon is a vision of how Great Britain can replace part of our ageing power station fleet with low cost, reliable power that also revitalises our industrial heartlands and coastal communities'.
Tidal lagoons work in a similar way to tidal barrages by capturing a large volume of water behind a man-made structure which is then released to drive turbines and generate electricity. A tidal lagoon encloses an area of coastline with a high tidal range behind a breakwater, with a footprint carefully designed for the local environment.
Alex Herbert is leading the consenting process for Swansea Bay Tidal Lagoon and related onshore works, while supporting the development of second and subsequent lagoons. He has been involved in the Swansea project since day one, building the in-house planning and consultant teams, and leading the masterplanning and application process to submission (February 2014) and consent (June 2015). The masterplan won the Landscape Institute’s Best Strategic Planning and President’s Awards in 2015.
Alex previously led the planning team at Low Carbon Group, planning for solar, wind and tidal energy projects (consenting over 110MW of onshore renewables); spent a period in local government; and worked for EDAW/AECOM on masterplanning and infrastructure projects including the London 2012 Olympic Park, Heart of Doha and Saadiyat Island.
A chartered town planner and member of the Council of the National Infrastructure Planning Association, Alex is a graduate of Cambridge University (MA Geography, 1995) and London South Bank University (MA Planning policy & practice, 2006).