Orbital Marine Power’s tidal stream turbine technology has been recognised by the iF Design Awards, which were announced today.
The winning technology was developed through a strategic design partnership with Designworks, the innovation studio for the BMW Group and global creative consultancy.
The awards, which received almost 10,000 submissions from 60 countries in 2020, identified the collaborative work of Orbital and Designworks as a winning design within the Professional Concept category.
Orbital and Designworks announced their design partnership last year when they released concept images of Orbital’s floating energy generation technology, with the utility scale Orbital OA model and a smaller Riverkinetic model included in the line-up.
The vision for the OA model sees turbines becoming less like traditional vessels, and more akin to autonomous power generation fleets in the future, Orbital said.
Orbital chief executive Andrew Scott said: “As a pioneering energy company setting out to help turn the tide on climate change, creating a future vision, and excitement around that, is hugely important to us, which was why we engaged Designworks in a collaborative partnership.
“To have the outputs from that exercise recognised in the iF Design forum is a genuine honour.”
Designworks LA Studio director Laura Robin said: “Sharing the honour of this iF Design Award 2021 with Orbital Marine Power is a great achievement.
“This global recognition acknowledges design’s importance in envisioning our best future.
“And what better design opportunity than to partner with a company that tangibly demonstrates new forms of clean energy – producing meaningful change for people and planet.”
The iF Design Awards are a global symbol of design excellence, aimed at identifying, supporting and promoting good design, in particular well-designed industrial products.