Orbital Marine Power awards blades contract for O2 tidal turbine to A C Marine & Composites

Orbital Marine Power Ltd (Orbital), a developer of floating tidal stream turbines, has awarded the composite blades contract for the commercial O2 tidal turbine to A C Marine & Composites (ACMC) who will carry out the manufacturing at their facilities in Gosport, Hampshire, England. 

The contract will see ACMC build 10m composite blades for both of the O2’s twin rotors (four blades in total) giving the machine a swept area of over 600 square meters.

The O2, capable of generating over 2MW from tidal stream resources and is expected to be operational in 2020, as part of a long term project at the European Marine Energy Centre, Orkney. Improvements in Orbital’s platform design have allowed for a rotor diameter increase of 4m on the company’s previous, record breaking, 2MW SR2000 turbine, with the O2 capable of producing electricity for over 1,700 UK homes.

Orbital’s contract with ACMC follows recent contract awards as part of the overall build programme for the O2; these include the O2 platform manufacturing contract to TEXO Group in Dundee and an anchors contract to FAUN Trackway in Anglesey.