The world’s first power-generating tidal lagoon could be built in the UK as the government is set to announce it will enter negotiations to fund the £1bn project.

This could see the country move towards greener energy production and also utilise the power of the sea to create power.

The idea behind the proposed lagoon, which would be the first in a series of five, would see power being generated as the incoming and outgoing tides passed through turbines.

Turbines would be mounted inside concrete housings and be permanently submerged so the end view is of a ring-shaped harbour wall with one section of concrete casing.

As well as the energy production potential the plans also increase the potential for sports, regenerating the local area, tourism and coastal defence.

A previous report by the Centre for Economic and Business Research said the proposed lagoons would have a lifetime of 120 years and create 35,800 jobs on average.

The government will enter discussions with the Tidal Lagoon Power company to discuss subsidies to build the first lagoon in Swansea, Wales, it was reported by the Guardian

If an agreement is reached the Swansea lagoon would see an area of 4.4sq miles cordoned off by the lagoon’s wall.

It would be able to generate a capacity of 320MW and have an annual capacity of 420GW.On average there would be 14 hours of energy generation every day. This is an improvement over wind farms, which typically only generate energy 40% of the time.

“The Swansea Bay Tidal Lagoon will provide power to 155,000 homes for 120 years,” the company behind the project says on its website.

“It will also act as a physical offshore coastal defence for buildings behind the seawall.”

However, if a funding deal is reached the lagoon still needs to have planning permission for its construction to be agreed by government ministers.

Last year Mark Shorrock, CEO of Tidal Lagoon Power, said that the plans for the lagoons made sense economically as well as in terms of future energy production.

“Having analysed all of the costs and all of the savings associated with this decision, this study clearly demonstrates that the annual benefits to the national economy would be enormous, immediate and long-lived,” he said.

“To realise this opportunity in full, we will have to marry economic benefit with environmental sensitivity and social acceptance.

“Our proposals for Swansea Bay have proved that this can be done and establish a blueprint for an infrastructure roll-out that we now know could account for ten percent or more of UK growth.”

Images courtesy of Tidal Lagoon Power.