Orbital Marine Power (Orbital) has been awarded an Option Agreement from Crown Estate Scotland for a new tidal energy project in the Westray Firth.

This new project will be located adjacent to the European Marine Energy Centre (EMEC) facility, where Orbital has already deployed the 2MW O2, the world’s most powerful tidal turbine, under commercial operation.

Three more of Orbital’s tidal turbines are expected to be at the EMEC site, alongside the O2, to expand its tidal generation capacity in the coming years.

Andrew Scott, CEO at Orbital Marine Power, said:

“As the UK looks to accelerate the decarbonisation 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.”

The Option Agreement is for 30MW, which could mean 12 Orbital devices installed across the site.

Orbital claim that the Westray project would be expected to result in over £120m of domestic supply chain spend in the UK and create hundreds of jobs across construction. Twelve jobs in Orkney are expected to come from it in operations and maintenance services.

There has been an explosion of renewables projects both on land and in Orkney’s marine environment with both Onshore and Offshore Wind projects and Marine renewables.

Ofgem’s Orkney Transmission Project – Minded-to consultation closes for submissions on 31st of March.

“We are consulting on our minded-to position on the Orkney Transmission Project. We would like views from people with an interest in this project. We particularly welcome responses from generators and local stakeholders on Orkney. We would also welcome responses from other stakeholders and the public.”