Showcasing ORPC Energy Solutions in Europe’s Rivers
In early November, ORPC Ireland joined project partners of the Showcasing Hydrokinetic Energy Innovations for Northwest European Energy Sovereignty (SHINES) consortium in Brussels, Belgium, a project that will lead to ORPC’s second open-water (and first river) deployment in Europe.
As one of three technology developers in the 14-member project, ORPC plans to deploy a device at Fondation OPEN-C’s grid-connected test site in the Garonne River, Bordeaux, France, in the second half of 2026.
The team’s work ahead of deployment is centered on site assessment, studying the environmental conditions of the facility and adapting ORPC’s full-size RivGen device to a smaller floating system suited to the project’s focus on grid connection.
Co-financed by the Interreg North-West Europe program, SHINES aims to unlock the potential of tidal and river energy resources, scale-up promising technologies and support the development of a pipeline for future deployments. The project aligns with the European Union’s net-zero strategy and ocean energy goals, which estimate that the sector can deploy 40 GW of capacity and create 400,000 industry jobs in the EU by 2050.