New tidal energy projected revealed by Orbital Marine

March 22, 2023 at 12:11 pm

Orbital expects that its Westray project will result in over £120million of spending in the domestic supply chain, as well as creating hundreds of jobs across construction and around a dozen new permanent jobs locally to provide operations and maintenance services.

Renewable energy company Orbital Marine Power has announced its plans for a new tidal energy project in the Westray Firth.

The development, which is expected to bring £120million of investment and hundreds of jobs, has been awarded an Option Agreement from Crown Estate Scotland.

The company also confirmed it has a grid connection in place for the project, which is located adjacent to the European Marine Energy Centre (EMEC) facility, where Orbital has already deployed the 2MW O2 device.

Renewable projects in Orkney were recently given a boost by Ofgem announcing that it is minded to approve a new 220MW transmission connection, to be built from the Scottish mainland to service the exporting of renewable power from the county.

Following the award of contracts for difference (CfDs) last year, Orbital is planning for 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.

For the full story, pick up this week’s edition of The Orcadian.