ClimateTicker

Orbital Marine Power

61Credible Contributor· Provisional
0 followersTidal energy·Edinburgh, United Kingdom·Founded 2002
www.orbitalmarine.com/

Developer of floating tidal stream turbines, operating the O2 — the world's highest-rated tidal energy device at 2 MW — off Orkney, with a 32 MW combined orderbook across the UK and Canada.

61/100
Credible Contributor· Provisional

ClimateTicker Green Score · how it's calculated

Greenwashing risk: lowData confidence: medium

Why it's on ClimateTicker

Orbital Marine Power develops and operates zero-emission floating tidal stream turbines that displace fossil-fuel generation with predictable, grid-connected renewable electricity — making it a genuine deep-mitigation play. The core technology is real and operating at the world's leading tidal test site, with UK government CfD revenue contracts and Canadian PPAs providing commercial validation. However, as a small pre-profit company, Orbital lacks the formal ESG infrastructure (SBTi, CDP, audited sustainability reports) expected of institutional-grade climate disclosures, so investors must rely heavily on engineering milestones and regulatory filings rather than standardised sustainability data.

mitigationOrbital earns revenue by selling electricity from grid-connected tidal turbines under UK Contracts for Difference (government-backed price guarantees) and power purchase agreements (e.g., Nova Scotia Power in Canada), supplemented by public R&D grants (Horizon Europe, UK SNIB, US DOE TEAMER) during the pre-commercial phase.

Commitments & Certifications

other: IECRE Feasibility Statement issued ↗other: Marine Licence active ↗other: UK CfD contracts awarded (AR4 and AR5) ↗

Controversy & Greenwashing Watch

lowMarine habitat interaction uncertainty

Academic research published in Nature Communications (2024) found that O2 turbine wake effects could restrict movement of some marine fauna if future arrays are too densely packed, flagging a site-specific environmental risk for scale-up.source ↗

lowUS project delay risk (Trump administration)

The OPALCO tidal project in Washington State, where Orbital is technology partner, faces potential delay following the change in US federal energy priorities under the Trump administration.source ↗

low"World's most powerful tidal turbine" claim requires qualification

Third-party analysis notes the O2's world-record claim applies specifically to floating/stream turbines and is not valid versus barrage-based installations such as Sihwa Lake (25.4 MW per unit), representing a mild marketing overstatement.source ↗

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