Tidal power in the United Kingdom.
An independent review commissioned by the government and published on January 12 recommended a power price subsidy be paid to a 320-megawatt (MW) pilot tidal electricity-generating plant at Swansea Bay in Wales. The project could be a pathfinder for a further nine sites on the UK west coast -- in the Severn estuary, Liverpool Bay and the Irish sea -- with total installed capacity of 25,000 MW that would satisfy up to 12% of the country's electricity demand for more than a century, while cutting carbon dioxide emissions.
Seawalls would cost at least 35 billion pounds (44 billion dollars) and turbines, generators and housings another 50 billion pounds.
An average of 40,000 jobs a year would be created during a 15-year construction period, with some 7,000 permanent staff required thereafter.
The cost of fossil fuel imports could be reduced by 500 million pounds annually once all the plants are operational.
