Scottish company Orbital Marine Power has secured an Option Agreement from Crown Estate Scotland for a new tidal energy project in the Westray Firth.
Orbital also confirmed it has a grid connection in place to service the pioneering project, which is located adjacent to the European Marine Energy Centre (EMEC) facility, where the company has already deployed the 2MW O2 , the world’s most powerful tidal turbine, under commercial operation.
Renewable projects in Orkney were recently given a boost by Ofgem announcing it is minded to approve a new 220MW transmission connection , to be built from the Scottish mainland to service renewable power exports from the islands.
Following the award of contracts for difference (CfDs) in last year’s AR4 process , Orbital is already targeting the installation of three more of its tidal turbines at the EMEC site, alongside the O2, to expand its tidal generation capacity in the coming years.
In keeping with the company’s strategy of carrying out major aspects of its manufacturing within the UK, the construction of the Westray project would be expected to result in over £120 million (€136 million) of domestic supply chain spend and create hundreds of jobs across construction and around a dozen new permanent jobs locally to provide operations and maintenance services.
The Option Agreement is for 30MW, which would equate to approximately 12 Orbital devices installed across the site . The waters around Orkney have significant wider tidal stream energy potential and the Westray site offers just one example of how this can be harnessed to provide clean, predictable power, according to the company.
Andrew Scott , CEO at Orbital Marine Power, said: “As the UK looks to accelerate the decarbonization of its energy system, we firmly believe tidal projects can bring unique benefits while harnessing a perfectly predictable and secure source of renewable energy. We’re proud to be building that vision in Orkney with this investment in our Westray Project.”
Alistair Carmichael , MP for Orkney and Shetland, added: “These are exciting times for tidal stream energy. Progress with Orbital’s Westray project is a vote of confidence in the potential here in the isles and demonstrates exactly why expanding grid capacity for Orkney has been so important.
“This good news is also evidence of the need for a more robust strategy from the government on tidal stream deployment, including continued and expanded backing in the next round of Contracts for Difference funding. We need to continue to ramp up development in the years to come.”
The Orbital team said it is engaged with stakeholders and is progressing environmental studies, with a view to reaching consent application as soon as possible.
The company also brings the benefit of extensive local operational and environmental data to help shape and inform optimal project design, having successfully installed, operated and monitored multiple floating tidal projects on the neighboring EMEC site since 2011.