Orbital-led consortium to take on EUR26.7 m multi-vector energy project

Orbital Marine Power will lead a pan-European consortium to deliver the EUR26.7 million (US$31.3 million) FORWARD-2030 project, set up to accelerate the commercial deployment of floating tidal energy in the UK.

The FORWARD-2030 project consortium will receive EUR20.5 million (US$24 million) of grant support from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme to develop a multi-vector energy system for the future. This system will combine predictable floating tidal energy, wind generation, grid export, battery storage, and green hydrogen production.

The project involves the installation of the next iteration of the Orbital turbine, integrated with a hydrogen production facility and battery storage at the European Marine Energy Centre (EMEC) in Orkney. Project partners will design options for integrating large-scale tidal power into future net-zero energy systems. Orbital will act as project coordinator as well as lead technology developer for the FORWARD-2030 project.