Orbital Marine inks Welsh tidal array deal

 
Scottish tidal technology developer Orbital Marine Power has signed an agreement to demonstrate its floating tidal technology at the Morlais Tidal Energy Project, in Anglesey, North West Wales.

The agreement with Menter Môn, the not for profit developers of the Morlais tidal project, sets out plans for a commercial scale tidal array of Orbital Marine‘s recently unveiled ‘O2’ 2MW tidal turbine.

Each 2MW unit planned for the array is capable of producing electricity equivalent to the demands of 1,500 typical UK homes, Orbital Marine said.

The Morlais project has secured a grid connection offer, and following completion of environmental assessments, a consent application is due to be submitted in mid-2019, the developers noted.

Andrew Scott, Orbital Marine’s CEO, said: “The Morlais project gives us line of sight to a commercial and scalable tidal energy array in UK waters.

“The concentration of tidal energy off the coast here, supported by great infrastructure in North Wales, makes this an ideal location to build out a new marine industry that can create new demand for skills and services both locally and further afield.”

Gerallt Llywelyn Jones, Director at Morlai, added: “One of our key aims is to secure maximum benefit in Anglesey through the project, by generating income that can be re-invested into our other development and job creation initiatives.

“Orbital’s floating tidal technology is designed around the use of locally based workboat vessels and service teams for all installation and maintenance requirements and we therefore believe they will be a great fit towards meeting our objectives.“

The Morlais Tidal Energy Project is being developed with part funding by the European Regional Development Fund through the Welsh government, to facilitate commercial deployments of a range of tidal energy technologies and has the potential to create one of the largest tidal stream energy sites in the world.

Menter Môn was first awarded rights to develop the site from The Crown Estate in 2014.