Orbital Marine Power, a British floating tidal generator developer, signed an agreement with AC Marine & Composites to produce composite blades for its first commercial tidal generator, O2.
The agreement stipulates that A C Marine & Composites will produce four 10m composite blades for the O2 dual-rotor generator. O2 has become the largest tidal generator at present due to its swept area exceeding 600 ㎡.
Orbital's O2 generator is a 72m long structure that can support two 1 MW turbines on both sides of the train to extract more than 2 MW of energy from tidal energy. After successful operation in 2020, the device will become the world's largest tidal power generator as part of the long-term project of the European Marine Energy Center. The continuous improvement of Orbital's design platform has increased the diameter of the O2 rotor by 4m from the previous record-breaking product, the 2 MW SR2000 tidal generator, which allows the new equipment to provide power to more than 1,700 British households.
Orbital Marine Power focuses on the development of tidal power generation technology, hoping to significantly reduce energy costs through the use of tidal energy. The suspension technology developed by the company provides a low-cost solution for the ease and safety of tidal generator production, installation, grid connection, maintenance, and the application of inexpensive small work boats.
The cooperation agreement between the two companies is only part of the agreement recently signed by the O2 project. Other contents include the manufacturing contract of the O2 platform signed by Orbital and TEXO Group, and the anchor manufacturing contract signed with FAUN Trackway.