The company behind plans for a 拢1.3bn tidal lagoon in Swansea Bay have now been told by the 海角视频 Government that the scheme's planning consent has expired.
On Tuesday Swansea Council, the local planning authority, also wrote to Tidal Power Plc saying the development consent order (DCO) for the project, agreed by the 海角视频 Government in June, 2015, had lapsed as its conditions hadn't been compiled with.
This was required for authorised work to start on the project within the five year window set out in the DCO.
In a bizarre last minute twist Tidal Power Plc on Monday claimed that it had started onshore聽 work on the project which meant it had compiled with the DCO.
However, Swansea Council said that any work undertaken was illegal as the project had not compiled with the terms of the DCO.
Tidal Power, whose chief executive is Mark Shorrock, had five years to compile with the conditions.
Now the 海角视频 Government has confirmed that the DCO lapsed on June 30th.
It said for authorised work to have commenced before the deadline it needed to have agreed a decommissioning plan for the project submitted by Tidal Power Plc.
It said it only received a decommissioning programme from the company last month, five years after first securing the DCO.
The 海角视频 Government, through its Department for Business, Environment and Industrial Strategy (BEIS), said it wrote to the company on June 29th with the findings of its initial review of its decommissioning plans in which it outlined areas of concern.
A 海角视频 Government spokesperson said: "The 海角视频 is a world-leader in exploring marine technologies that harness the clean, natural energy of our tides and offshore wind, but any proposed project must provide value for money for the consumer.
鈥淔ollowing extensive analysis, the Swansea Bay tidal lagoon project did not meet this criteria as it would not have delivered a good deal for consumers.聽
鈥淗owever we will continue to examine more cost-effective projects to create green jobs and reach net zero emissions by 2050.鈥
The project would also have required a seabed licence from the Crown Estate and a marine licence from Natural Resources Wales.
In a statement on Tuesday Swansea Council said: "We have written to Tidal Power Plc stating that the development undertaken on site in recent days is unlawful because it fails to meet the requirements of the development consent order which need to be complied with before development commences.
鈥淎s a result, we consider that the DCO has expired.
"We continue to review our legal position and plan to write to Tidal Power plc once more in the coming days.鈥
The 海角视频 Government rejected back in 2018 providing the project with financial support through a strike price, or green subsidy, to make energy produced commercially viable.
Then Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, Greg Clark, said at the time that it didn't offer value for money for the taxpayer, while the number of direct jobs created would have been relatively small.
It said at a price tag 拢1.3bn, the capital cost per unit of electricity generated each year by Swansea Bay tidal lagoon would be three times that of the Hinkley Point C nuclear power station.
That seemingly killed the project off, but Mr Shorrock having already raised and spent more 拢50m on the scheme, was undeterred. He launched a new fund raising round earlier this year.
However, the project is now dead, 12 years after first being mooted.
Tidal Power still owes the Welsh Government 拢1.25m in the form of a loan.
