Orbital Marine Power Joins Ocean Energy Europe as Lead Partner

Orbital Marine Power (Orbital), one of the world’s leading tidal energy developers, is increasing their support of the vital work that Ocean Energy Europe is doing to promote the sector, by becoming a Lead Partner.

Hailing from Scotland, Orbital is helping turn the tide on climate change by commercializing their ground-breaking technology that captures renewable energy from the power of the earth’s naturally occurring tidal stream resources.

Orbital’s O2 project, supported by Horizon 2020, delivered the world’s most powerful and advanced tidal turbine, which began exporting low-carbon electricity to the UK grid in July, 2021. The O2 is a 2 MW+ floating device capable of providing utility-scale, clean energy whilst supporting a just transition by creating sustainable, quality jobs throughout the project lifecycle, and is able to offset over 2,200 tonnes of CO2 emissions per year.

In 2022, Orbital was awarded 7.2MW of ‘Contracts for Difference’ (CfDs) in the UK Government’s long-term revenue support mechanism for renewables process. This is a significant milestone in the company’s growth, with these CfDs underpinning the delivery of a multi-turbine project in Eday, Orkney. Once operational, the combined Orbital project will be connected to the UK grid and will power approximately 10,000 homes.

Rémi Gruet, CEO of Ocean Energy Europe

Rémi Gruet, CEO of Ocean Energy Europe is delighted to add Orbital Marine Power as a Lead Partner: “Orbital is one of the pioneers of tidal energy. They have played a major role in the sector’s progress for many years now, and it is a natural step for them to take on a more prominent role at OEE as they prepare to commercialize their technology. I look forward to working with Andrew and his team to keep that forward momentum going, and to make a global tidal energy market a reality.”

Andrew Scott, CEO of Orbital Marine Power

Andrew Scott, CEO of Orbital Marine Power added: “Thanks largely to Ocean Energy Europe’s work over many years, we have seen tidal energy brought to commercial readiness and interest grow in the role it can play in secure, sustainable and low carbon energy systems of the future. As we move into a new, exciting phase of scaling our industry, it will come with new challenges and opportunities - I have no doubt OEE will continue to play a key role in helping deliver success for the sector, and we look forward to supporting that critical effort.”