A pan-European project officially launched on November 18th in Paris to accelerate the roll out of the next generation of floating wind technology for a competitive, more scalable and industrial deployment.
The ambitious initiative is being led by a consortium of thirteen partners from eight countries including Technip Energies as project coordinator, X1Wind, Naturgy, 2B Energy, Hellenic Cables, Technical University of Denmark, Hydro, Ecole Centrale de Nantes, Schwartz Hautmont, Ocas, Tersan Shipyard, Ocean Ecostructures and Cybernetix.
Backed by the European Commission under the Horizon Europe program with public funding of 16M€, plus private funding from partners and shareholders, the project is anticipated to run until 2027.
The project will lead to the deployment of a 6MW floating wind prototype at the Mistral test site in the French Mediterranean Sea, to demonstrate at a relevant scale an innovative integrated downwind floating platform design, while advancing in parallel on the industrialization and scaling-up of the integrated solution up to 20MW+ scale, in preparation of commercial floating wind farms under development in Europe.
This project builds upon previous European Projects such as the PivotBuoy which recently led to the installation of a part-scale prototype in the Canary Islands to validate the technology. Design work for the initial 6MW system is currently underway and scheduled to be finalized in 2023. Construction is due in 2023 and 2024, ahead of installation in 2025.
Laure Mandrou, SVP Carbon-Free Energy solutions of Technip Energies, said:
“While the COP 27 just ended, we can only note that there is an urgent requirement for greater climate action and a swift transition to renewables energy. Floating wind is one of the lowest carbon electricity generation systems to meet the energy demand in a sustainable way while inducing better competitiveness, less noise and visual pollution, and less interaction with the users of the maritime domain. The NextFloat Project represents a unique opportunity to test a novel and disruptive version of this technology at full scale, driving cost curve reductions in order to deliver industrial-scale projects at the earliest possible stage”.
Alex Raventos, CEO and co-founder of X1 Wind said:
“After the successful deployment and validation of our innovative low-cost solution in the Canary Islands (PivotBuoy project), the goal now is to scale-up and industrialize the technology in advance of large commercial floating wind projects which will come online at the end of the decade across European, Asian and US waters. This will allow us time to drive substantial improvements in the competitiveness of floating wind as we prepare for long-term mass deployment.”
Jesús Chapado, Head of Innovation of Naturgy, said:
“The major transformation that we are facing in the energy sector forces innovation to be collaborative and open. We need to be capable of generating symbiosis among large corporations like Naturgy, and start-ups, scale-ups, research centres and universities. The Nextfloat project is composed of all these agents and will allow us to learn from the challenges we will face within the project, establish new partnerships and get know-how for the future deployment of commercial floating offshore wind farms in Europe”.
About X1 Wind
X1 Wind is a disruptive floating wind technology developer. Based in Barcelona, Spain, the firm’s mission is to provide highly scalable solutions which deliver clean, affordable energy while reducing carbon emissions across the globe. The company’s unique floating wind concept was initially developed by Carlos Casanovas in 2012 while studying at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), before progressing the patented technology for almost a decade.
In recent years, X1 Wind has rapidly built a team of now more than 35 experienced experts in the wind and offshore sectors and progressed its technology roadmap, with several tank testing campaigns and the current a part-scale demonstrator under tests in the Canary Islands under real operational conditions. X1 Wind is now backed up by leading industrial and institutional investors such as Technip Energies, Innoenergy and the EIC Fund among others.
About Technip Energies
Technip Energies is a leading Engineering & Technology company for the energy transition, with leadership positions in Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG), hydrogen and ethylene as well as growing market positions in blue and green hydrogen, sustainable chemistry and CO2 management. The company benefits from its robust project delivery model supported by extensive technology, products and services offering.
Operating in 34 countries, our 15,000 people are fully committed to bringing our client’s innovative projects to life, breaking boundaries to accelerate the energy transition for a better tomorrow. Technip Energies is listed on Euronext Paris with American depositary receipts (“ADRs”) traded over-the-counter in the United States.
About Naturgy
Naturgy is a leading multinational company dedicated to the generation, distribution and commercialization of energy and services that works to guarantee the well-being of people, the progress of companies and society, and the sustainability of the planet. It operates in regulated and liberalized electricity and gas markets, with a growing contribution from international activities.
Naturgy operates in 20 countries with more than 16 million customers and nearly 50% of its 7.000 employees work outside Spain. Its international presence puts it in an ideal position to capitalize on the growth of new regions which are in the process of economic growth, making it one of the world’s most important operators.
