Orbital's 2-MW tidal turbine goes live in Orkney

Scottish tidal energy firm Orbital Marine Power Ltd on Wednesday said that the world’s most powerful tidal turbine, its 2-MW O2 floating device, has begun exporting power to the grid at the European Marine Energy Centre (EMEC) in Orkney.

The milestone follows more than 15 years of product development and the company is now looking to commercialise its technology by deploying multi-MW arrays.

“Our vision is that this project is the trigger to the harnessing of tidal stream resources around the world to play a role in tackling climate change whilst creating a new, low-carbon industrial sector,” said Orbital chief executive Andrew Scott.

The 74-metre (242.8-ft) long turbine was produced and launched in Dundee earlier this year and then towed to Orkney. It is expected to generate power equivalent to the annual needs of around 2,000 UK homes for the next 15 years. The turbine will also provide power to EMEC’s onshore electrolyser to produce green hydrogen.

The delivery of the O2 turbine was supported by fundraising on ethical investment platform Abundance Investment and the Scottish government's Saltire Tidal Energy Challenge Fund, which provided GBP 3.4 million (USD 4.7m/EUR 4m) for the project.

(GBP 1 = USD 1.388/EUR 1.175)

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