The action we need

Thursday 23rd April, 2026 

Tidal energy – the action we need to deliver ambition

Andy Billcliff is Chief Executive of Menter Môn Morlais. As the Senedd election approaches, he sets out what he believes is needed to ensure the tidal energy sector is ready to generate clean electricity that delivers lasting benefits to local communities.

With the Senedd election just weeks away, renewable energy businesses like ours are paying less attention to political rhetoric and more on what the next Welsh Government must do to deliver on the clean energy agenda. As we move into the seventh Senedd term, the conditions are in place for projects like Morlais to begin generating electricity. What’s needed now is partnership and pace. Our challenge is not potential, but delivery.

For Morlais and the wider tidal sector, this means action on several fronts. To start generating clean electricity, we need faster consenting; support for R&D in environmental monitoring; and funding mechanisms that will allow our developers to get devices into the water quicker.

The case for Morlais is more than an environmental one. For Ynys Môn, the project represents investment in our communities, opportunities for local businesses, clear career and training pathways for young people, as well as clean electricity that can contribute meaningfully to climate action and net zero targets.

Despite Wales’s world class tidal resource, and years of work by our team locally, progress on tidal stream remains constrained by slow consenting, complex regulation and a lack of clear funding routes. We have a genuine opportunity to lead the UK in tidal stream energy, but only if the next government in Wales is prepared to match our ambition with delivery.

There have been recent positive steps, including the Renewable Energy Sector Deal announced by the current Welsh Government in March. This includes a commitment to lobby the UK Government for ring fenced funding for tidal stream in the next Contracts for Difference (CfD) allocation round. This would mean guaranteed income, supported by UK Government for the five tidal turbine developers engaged with us at Morlais.

At the moment there is no spending planned for projects like ours through GB Energy. Without a viable route to funding, we can’t get devices in the water off the coast of Ynys Môn. The infrastructure is ready. The drive is there. And for more than five years we have worked with the supply chain, regional partners and the further education sector to make sure north Wales is prepared.

It remains to be seen how the next Welsh Government will approach renewables – but there is cross party support for Morlais and for what we are building on Ynys Môn. What we now need is commitment and action to overcome the remaining hurdles, so we can start generating electricity and turn an ambition ignited nearly fifteen years ago at Menter Môn into reality.

Menter Môn Morlais has shared its key asks with all parties ahead of the Senedd Election on May 7th. Read the manifesto here.

Morlais is a tidal stream energy project off the coast of Ynys Môn (Anglesey). It is managed by Menter Môn Morlais Ltd and aims to benefit local communities, the economy and climate by generating clean low carbon electricity using tidal power. The scheme has a potential maximum generating capacity of 240MW with first devices expected to be deployed from next summer.