A body of senior business owners and directors in Wales have come together to form an independent industry advisory group focused on realising the commercial benefits of the proposed Swansea Bay Tidal Lagoon.
Led by Roger Evans MBE, Managing Director of Schaeffler (UK) as Chair, the Wales Tidal Lagoon Industry Group includes: • Roger Evans M.B.E, Managing Director of Schaeffler (UK) • Owain Davies, Managing Director of Amcanu • Nick Revell, Managing Director of Ledwood Engineering • Mark Coia, Managing Director of Renewables, Energy & Marine, Mabey Bridge • Russell Scaplehorn , Managing Director of Hornbill • Winston Hall, Director of JW Morris & Son • Gherold Davies, Managing Director of Fairwood Fabrications Limited
With the Welsh Economy Research Unit at Cardiff University having reported that Swansea Bay Tidal Lagoon will represent an estimated £756m of capital investment, the newly formed advisory Group will take responsibility for championing a new tidal lagoon industry in Wales to maximise the potential of supply chain opportunities within Wales and the UK.
The aim of the Wales Tidal Industry Advisory Group will be to demonstrate that here is a world class cluster of manufacturing, assembly and construction businesses in Wales capable of creating a supply chain for Swansea Bay Tidal Lagoon and a further five tidal lagoons across the United Kingdom. Together, they will identify commercial opportunities for businesses of all sizes in Wales that are able to demonstrate the skills, experience and capacity required to deliver critical components including manufacturing stages related to turbine fabrication, assembly, machining, coating and casting along with electrical components including transformers, buzz bars, generators, control panels and balance of plant.
Roger Evans, Chairperson explains: “We have come together to ensure that Wales can benefit from this hugely exciting new industry that has the potential to lever close to £300m of regional spending spread over a three year development period. Cardiff Business School estimates that this could result in a total additional £454m of additional output in Wales with the development phase of the project leading to the creation of £173m of gross value added for Wales. However, as a Group, we are confident that we can work together to achieve even higher benefits for Wales and our aim is therefore to deliver 50% for Wales.
“We need to make sure that we keep this investment in Wales and we will therefore be working with Tidal Lagoon Power to develop relationships with core contractors, showcasing the capacity and capability that Wales has to offer with the aim of securing a minimum of 50% spend within Wales as the industry develops at a UK level.”
Chief Executive of Tidal Lagoon Power Limited, Mark Shorrock says: “We have consistently stated that we will be seeking UK and Welsh suppliers of critical components to create a sustainable long term tidal lagoon industrial base that will support this and further developments as well as providing long term operation and maintenance support. We want to see a minimum 50% of Welsh and 65% UK content for our first tidal lagoon and will work with Welsh industry to ensure that the region capitalises on its first-mover advantage to serve subsequent tidal lagoon developments.“
Tidal Lagoon Power’s Development Director for Wales, Ioan Jenkins adds: “This newly formed working group represents a best-in-class consortium of UK and international industrial businesses to establish local production facilities and supply chains to serve Tidal Lagoon Swansea Bay and future developments. We are confident from our work so far with representatives of Welsh industry that Wales has the skills base, experience and scalability to serve a larger UK tidal lagoon industry. We definitely have the base to deliver at least 50% content here in Wales.”
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Press release, January 8, 2014; Image: Tidal Lagoon Swansea Bay