RENEWABLE ENERGY
Wave and tidal projects around the world La Rance was the biggest tidal energy project in the world until 2011 when K-Water’ s Sihwa Lake Tidal Power Plant took the top spot with a capacity of 254 MW.
The Sihwa Lake Tidal Power Plant makes use of a seawall that was constructed in 1994 for flood mitigation. It uses 10 bulb turbines and generates power on tidal inflows with a mean operating tidal range of 5.6 metres. Construction on the project began in 2011 and it began operations in 2012 at a cost of US $ 650m. The original seawall was built in part due to water pollution, but the lake’ s quality deteriorated due to limited natural inflows. To address this, the plant now circulates around 145 million tonnes of seawater in and out of the lake. A 75 metre high observatory has made the facility a popular tourist destination, with more than 1.4 million visitors each year.
The Sihwa Lake Tidal Power Plant
204 August 2025