Medium
This Revolutionary Technology Could Unlock The World’s
Cleanest Energy
Orbital Marine could turn
the tide on climate change.
23
April
2023
By
Will Lockett
![](images/images_06_26_2023/1_l1y8-yPo6RQNJX5jeS9T4g%20copy.jpg)
Orbital Marine O2 — Orbital
Marine
The world is waning under the immense weight of our vast carbon
emissions and rife ecological crimes. If we carry on in this way, then
Earth will no longer be our bountiful garden of Eden and instead
resemble something far closer to hell. To stop this Hadian vision of
the future from coming true, humanity needs to rapidly change its ways
and decarbonise. We’ve made great strides in recent years, but we have
neglected one of the cleanest forms of energy. You see, the lifecycle
carbon emission of coal energy is 820 g/kWh, while solar
is much lower at 48 g/kWh, and wind
and nuclear are even lower at just 12 g/kWh. But tidal power
trounces them all at only
1.8 g/kWh! Yet, despite these astonishing eco-credentials, we
hardly use tidal power. Thankfully, Orbital Marine is set to change
that with its revolutionary O2 tidal turbine.
Before we look at Orbital Marine’s O2 turbine, let’s first recap
what tidal energy is, why it is so clean, and why we don’t use it.
The ocean tides rise and fall twice a day. In some places, this causes
ocean water to flow gently, but in other places, it causes a torrent.
All tidal power does is place a turbine underwater where the tidal
flow is particularly strong and produce electricity in the same way a
wind turbine does.
But if that is the case, then how can tidal power have a substantially
lower carbon footprint than wind power? Well, it has all to do with
the weight and viscosity of water.
The blades of a turbine are far more efficient in water than in air.
This is because water’s viscosity and weight allow higher pressure
differentials to be built over their surface without generating too
much energy-wasting turbulence, creating more force over the blades.
As such, a tidal
power turbine is a whopping 80% efficient, whereas a wind
turbine is at most 40% efficient. This allows tidal power to pull
far more energy from the tides than wind turbines can from the wind.
However, water weighs nearly
a thousand times more than air. The equation for kinetic energy is
K.E. = 1/2 m v², which means water can carry a thousand times the
kinetic energy of air for the same flow rate! This
means a typical two-mph tide will contain the same kinetic energy as
2,000-mph winds for the same flow measured in volume per minute.
These factors combined mean that a single tidal turbine can produce
far more power than a single wind turbine. Therefore, less
carbon-intensive mining, manufacturing, or construction needs to take
place, giving tidal power its brilliantly low carbon emissions.
This is further aided by the fact that the energy
produced by tidal waves is consistent and predictable. In other
words, it requires far smaller grid batteries to meet demand than wind
or solar, which can lag behind energy demand for days at a time. These
batteries are carbon-intensive and environmentally dubious to produce,
so using fewer of them has a massive overall impact on tidal’s carbon
footprint.
So what’s the problem with tidal power, then? Well, it is damn
expensive! The ocean is a horrific place to build moving structures,
as the water corrodes them and the pervasive life can damage even the
most sturdy designs. What’s more, tidal turbines are produced in such
small numbers that they cost a stupid amount to build, as there is no
economy of scale. This is why tidal
power costs, on average, around $311 per MWh. For some context
here, nuclear power is by far the most expensive and widely used
energy source, and it peaks
at $211 per MWh. Meanwhile, wind
power costs at most $50 per MWh. As such, we simply can’t afford
to use tidal energy.
But this is where Scotland-based Orbital Marine Power comes in. They
are aiming to change this with their O2 tidal turbine, which happens
to be the world’s most powerful tidal turbine.
![](images/images_06_26_2023/VidCov.jpg)
The O2 turbine is a piece of genius engineering. Rather than
mounting the turbines on a pylon, like most tidal turbines, these are
attached to a 72-metre-long floating platform that is anchored to the
sea floor. The two turbines are mounted on massive swinging arms on
either side of the platform, meaning they can be easily hauled out of
the water for simple maintenance, and all the vital electronics are
incredibly easy to access, which drives down operational costs. The
turbine blades are massive, with a 20-metre wingspan, allowing them to
capture as much energy as possible, giving the O2 a power output of
2MW or more. This higher output means fewer turbines are needed to
meet power demand, meaning they can be more efficiently produced,
resulting in an overall cheaper tidal power solution. Because the O2
is basically just a medium-sized ship, its construction and
installation are far easier and cheaper than any other form of tidal
power, as it doesn’t require any specialist vessels and production
facilities already exist. Because the O2 doesn’t rely on building
directly upon the sea floor, it can also be installed in a far greater
range of locations than a pylon-based turbine; this makes it far more
flexible and, therefore, cheaper.
Orbital Marine has already
deployed one O2 at the European Marine Energy Centre, and it has been
supplying energy to the UK grid since July 2021. Sadly, I could
not find what price per MWh this O2 is selling its energy for, but it
must be good because Orbital Ocean has just won a massive contract!
This Option Agreement is to build a 30 MW tidal power plant in the
Westray Firth, where the tide rips by at 3 m/s. This would make Orbital
Marine’s first full-scale tidal power planet the fifth largest in the
world. However, three of the largest tidal power sites are lagoon
sites, which are far less eco-friendly than free-floating turbines
like the O2. Orbital has confirmed that the necessary power connection
is already there, and it will only take 12 O2 units to meet this power
demand.
This is where the price of tidal power starts to get better. You see, Orbital
Marine says that tidal power — in particular, free-floating tidal
power like the O2 — is on target to reach $110 per MWh, which
would make it a highly competitive energy source. To achieve this
price point, tidal power needs to reach a global capacity of 1 GW
(1,000 MW, or 33 of Orbital’s new power plants). Once at this size,
economies of scale can set in, along with establishing a tidal power
industry — where trained technicians and tools become available,
alongside the development of third party support systems — which will
send the price way down to $110 per MWh.
Orbital Marine’s revolutionary turbine has a fantastic shot at
reaching this 1 GW mark quicker than anyone else, thanks to its design
being easy to build and install, so it really could unlock this
planet-saving technology. Only time will tell, but I can’t wait to see
where Orbital Marine goes from here.
Green Play Ammonia™, Yielder® NFuel Energy.
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