North Wales Tidal Energy — a new company based in St Asaph — is looking at a number of sites along the coast of North Wales to construct a large tidal lagoon similar to the one proposed for Swansea Bay.

Chief executive Eryl Vaughan said: “The company is new, but it’s taking shape. We’re quietly confident that this will have quite a lot to do with the future of energy generation in Wales and the development of the Welsh economy.”

NWTE was founded last December. Mr Vaughan, who has 10 years’ experience in the offshore wind sector, took up his role as chief executive on 1 September. He added: “I think that the idea of generating electricity from the sea has finally come of age. We don’t want to look at this just from the point of view of generating energy, but also from a coastal protection agenda.”

Mr Vaughan said that, subject to planning permission, construction could begin on the project in a decade, but there are some significant problems to overcome. “There are barriers in the development of the technology, although all the elements are there.

“The construction also presents challenges, as we’ll be building a large wall in the sea, and then there are the political and funding challenges. The Government will need to put a lot more resources into coastal defence. If we could combine an investment in coastal defence with energy generation, then that could be a way forward.”