FloTEC webinar: Lessons learnt from developing the world’s most powerful tidal stream turbine
The Floating Tidal Energy Commercialisation (FloTEC) project, led by Orbital Marine Power, aimed to demonstrate how floating tidal systems can provide low-cost, high-value energy to the European grid mix. The project built on Orbital’s existing floating tidal technology to develop and demonstrate the world’s most powerful tidal stream turbine – the O2. The aim was to demonstrate an advanced, full-scale device in real conditions with high levels of reliability and survivability, while developing a greater understanding of factors such as installation, operation and decommissioning costs.
Thanks to FloTEC, the Orbital O2 2 MW tidal energy turbine was deployed at the European Marine Energy Centre (EMEC) in Orkney in 2021 and is scheduled to operate at EMEC for the next 15 years.
The FloTEC project however has come to an end, and the project team would like to provide insight into the work undertaken during the project. The O2 features a number of innovations, including up to 50 percent greater energy capture through enlarged rotors with a lower rated speed, full onsite access to all turbine systems through an optimised platform configuration, high performance blades and compatibility with local supply chain and infrastructure.
Watch online
This event took place on 23rd September. Watch the webinar:
Q&A
Thank you to everyone who posted questions during the webinar. A response to all questions is available to download below.
Project funders and partners
This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No. 691916.
Project partners are Orbital Marine Power, ABB UK, DP Energy, EDF, the European Marine Energy Centre (EMEC), SKF, Technology from Ideas, Eirecomposites, National University of Ireland Galway and University College Cork.
