Marine energy pioneer's crowdfunding campaign hits £1m target with a week
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A crowdfunding campaign by tidal energy developer Orbital Marine Power Ltd has smashed its £1 million target with a week.
The raise, hosted on Crowdcube, is now open to the wider public for further investment.
The Scottish-based company is raising equity investment to support future commercial activities and ongoing development of its innovative floating tidal turbine technology within the rapidly growing global market for low-carbon energy. This is predicted to see over £8 trillion invested in new renewable energy projects by 2050.
Chief executive Andrew Scott commented: “This level of endorsement and support is inspiring for us – that our vision as a business for helping to turn the tide on climate change resonates with so many people is really rewarding. I look forward, with pleasure, to bringing onboard our fantastic new shareholders whose commitment will be hugely motivational for the entire team at Orbital.”
Although the company has already reached its £1 million raise target, it will keep the opportunity to invest open on the Crowdcube platform and release further equity under the same terms and conditions for the wider public for a limited period of time.
“This is a very exciting time for us and by overfunding we will be able to further ramp-up our commercialisation activities and accelerate the deployment of our technology at scale – an objective which can’t come soon enough in the effort to tackle climate change,” Mr Scott added.
Orbital is nearing completion of its fully funded first commercial 2MW unit, the Orbital O2, which will be installed in the waters off the Orkney Islands early next year, where it will become the world’s most powerful operational tidal turbine, capable of meeting the electricity demand of over 1,700 UK homes every year. The O2 is the culmination of a world leading development programme which saw Orbital achieve the first ever grid connected floating tidal turbine in 2011 before going on to deliver its record-breaking 2MW prototype system in 2016.
Anyone interested in the opportunity can find out more information at crowdcube.com/orbital.
