Dragon Energy Island for Swansea Bay

The Dragon Energy Island is a tidal lagoon and renewable energy park that could be the largest ever development project of its kind to be launched in Wales or the UK. The concept has come from the mind of Malcolm Copson of Hong Kong-based MOI Imagineering, who has previously been involved in world famous developments such as Disneyland Paris and The Palm in Dubai.

Previous attempts to create a £1.3 billion tidal lagoon by constructing a concrete wall with turbines to generate low-carbon electricity, are on hold after Government ministers rejected the idea of subsidising the project last year. However, it is claimed that the Dragon Island development will be 30% cheaper than these previous plans.

The Dragon Energy Island consortium boasts world leading organisations with a proven track record of successful billion-pound developments, design and project delivery. An announcement of the selected members will be made in early 2021. Alongside the announcement, a full schedule of planning applications and proposals will be published.

The consortium was inspired by the early concepts set out in the Holistic Capital options review published last year. This review recommended integrating a number of additional complimentary renewables elements to the project along with sustainable housing, to create an independently viable project. For example, many of the concept drawings show the dragons ‘wings’ containing small solar farms.

DST, the driving force behind the consortium, are the inventors of ground-breaking large scale battery technology enabling efficient and sustainable energy storage. The energy storage capabilities are vital to the success of the Dragon Energy Island, solving the problem of storing the energy created by natural power.

“We’re delighted our technology can be utilised in a project of this magnitude. Our products are designed in Wales and this is an amazing opportunity for us to harness the wonderful natural resources we have in our home nation and unlock the abundance of innovation and talent we hold here” said a DST spokesperson.

With its battery production facilities already underway in West Virginia, US, DST are planning a second manufacturing base in Swansea. The two facilities will work together in partnership and it signifies an exciting new era of collaboration between the two countries.

Combined, the DST and Dragon Energy Island project plan to create over 1000 highly skilled permanent jobs for the Swansea area alone.

By Jake Frith