MAXBlade was showcased at the International Conference on Ocean Energy (ICOE) and Ocean Energy Europe (OEE) 2026, where industry leaders, researchers and policymakers came together to discuss the future of ocean energy and the pathway towards commercial deployment.
Held in Brussels from 5-7 October, the event provided an opportunity to highlight how innovation is helping the sector progress from individual device demonstrations to commercial-scale projects.
The conference programme covered a broad range of topics, with several sessions focused on challenges that MAXBlade is helping to address through its work to improve tidal turbine performance, reliability and readiness for array deployment. Orbital Marine Power’s Oliver Wragg presented about the project in the ‘Tidal Tech Showcase – Beyond Demonstration: Scaling Tidal Energy’ session, while EMEC’s Carly Tait discussed MaxBlade in the context of the components and auxiliary systems required for future array-scale ocean energy developments in the ‘Critical Components: Building Stronger Connections’ session.
Discussions throughout the conference reinforced the importance of technology innovation, performance improvements and operational learning in enabling the next phase of sector growth.
Alongside the conference programme, MAXBlade was represented at the Orbital Marine Power exhibition stand alongside sister projects FORWARD-2030 and EURO-TIDES. The stand provided an opportunity to showcase how the three projects are supporting the development of Orbital’s O2-X turbine and the planned EURO-TIDES array.
Visitors were particularly interested in a new scale model of the O2-X turbine, which demonstrated the range of innovations being brought together to support the next generation O2-X. The model features rotating blades to highlight the blade innovations being progressed through MaxBlade to enhance turbine performance, improve reliability and help reduce the cost of energy from future tidal arrays.
The event provided a valuable opportunity to engage with developers, researchers, investors and policymakers from across the ocean energy sector, while demonstrating how collaborative innovation projects such as MAXBlade are helping to accelerate the commercialisation of tidal energy.
