Hello and welcome to the witness history podcast with me, Alex Collins. As part of our

week of programmes about oceans, I'm taking you back to 1966 and the opening of the world's

first tidal power station. I've been speaking to historian Mark Bonnell.

It's November 26th, 1966. French President Charles de Gaulle has arrived on

Brittany's northern coast on the banks of the riverance to open a tidal power station.

He says it's a major feat of engineering which France should be proud of and he's

letting everybody know that at the opening ceremony.

He's saying as the riverance flows towards the sea because its source sends it back

there so France is faithful to itself when it walks towards progress.

He finishes with the final flourish of Long Live the Republic, Long Live France.

But what is tidal power and what exactly did the French build?

tidal energy is created by the movement of water in our oceans. Water from the English

channel flows in and out. 24 huge turbines are spaced across the width of the river.

They are suspended in the water which flows through them causing the blades to rotate.

Each turbine is five metres in diameter with the blades rotating at nearly 100

revolutions per minute. When the power station is functioning at its full capacity it can

provide about 240 megawatts of electricity. That's enough energy to power a quarter

of a million households at any given time but the construction of the plant didn't just

create a new energy source. Above the engine room that houses the turbines,

engineers also built a road bridge to provide a link between the towns of Dina and San Malau.

The region wasn't just getting a new source of power, it was also getting a

keepit of infrastructure.

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