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The Planning Inspectorate has accepted for consideration the application by Tidal Lagoon Swansea Bay plc for consent to build the Swansea Bay Tidal Lagoon.

Acceptance means that the application has reached the required standards to proceed to public examination before being determined by the Secretary of State for Energy & Climate Change. Natural Resources Wales will consider in parallel an application for the marine licence that is required due to the Project’s location in Welsh waters. The marine licence application was itself accepted for consideration on Friday 28 February.

Mark Shorrock, CEO of Tidal Lagoon Power, the company behind the Swansea Bay Tidal Lagoon, said: “This is a hugely important step in the process that will, hopefully, see us on site in Swansea Bay in spring 2015 with the first power being generated in 2018.

“Through an ongoing process of operational optimisation, we now expect power output for the Swansea Bay Tidal Lagoon to hit 495 GWh per annum, enough to power 155,000 homes.”

As an offshore generating station in excess of 100MW installed capacity, the Project qualifies as a Nationally Significant Infrastructure Project under the 2008 Act.

Alex Herbert, Head of Planning for Tidal Lagoon Power, said: “Consulting on a Nationally Significant Infrastructure Project, and subsequently compiling the application documents, is an enormous task that has kept the team busy for nearly three years. We are delighted that our application met the required standards and look forward to taking it forward to examination and a decision.”