ORPC Ireland

ORPC Ireland

ORPC Ireland, our European subsidiary, was established in 2015. ORPC Ireland develops engineering and project development infrastructure in Europe, advances innovative technology, builds market opportunities, and engages in community outreach and education to assist in commercializing our proprietary cross-flow turbine generator technologies.

ORPC Ireland’s Optimized Buoyant Cross-Flow Tidal Energy System for Mooring in Deep Ocean Rock Beds (OPTIMOR) Project will develop the design of a 2 MW power system for ORPC. This design will be targeted to utility-scale project opportunities in Europe and will reduce the amount of structure in the turbine design which does not actively capture energy. This will be achieved by reducing the number of turbines and also increasing turbine size to achieve a similar cross-section area. The anchor design for the OPTIMOR turbine will be developed to suit multiple geotechnical and geophysical types ensuring design adaptability to different sites.

Specific project objectives include:

• Reducing levelized cost of electricity (LCOE) for a 2 MW project by 67%
• Increasing flow through the turbine by 20%
• Improving performance and reducing drag load on the turbine and moorings lines
• Completing a life cycle costing exercise to demonstrate that the larger turbine system is competitive in the European market

OPTIMOR is an OCEANERA-NET CoFund project funded by the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI). The Project runs from May 2020 to June 2022.

Updates will be shared here periodically throughout the Project.