Floating wind project wins EUR 13.4 million grant
The NextFloat+ Project has secured a grant of EUR 13.4 million from the European Commission’s Innovation Fund supporting the industrialisation of floating wind
(Source: X1 Wind)
The pan-European NextFloat+ Project has been awarded a EUR 13 million ‘cornerstone grant’ from the European Commission’s Innovation Fund to support development of its floating wind initiative.
NextFloat+, led by project coordinator X1 Wind, a Barcelona-based wind technology developer, will work with partners Technip Energies and NextFloat Plus S.A.S. The partners will deploy a 6-MW prototype floating wind platform at a test site in the Mediterranean Sea.
The pre-commercial prototype, called ‘X90’, will demonstrate a cost-effective integrated system composed of a structurally efficient and lightweight floating platform with a single point mooring and a tension leg platform. This combination significantly reduced the seabed footprint impact.
The latest step follows a programme of tank-testing to support the design and subsequent installation of a full-featured, part-scale demonstrator in the Canary Islands. The cash injection will underpin the industrialisation and scale-up of the floating wind system with a view to developing systems generating 20MW of power and more in the future.
“We’re thrilled to receive support from the Innovation Fund,” declared X1 Wind CEO and co-founder, Alex Raventos. “The grant represents a cornerstone in the fundraising for the NextFloat+ Project, adding to finance already secured through the European Commission under the Horizon Europe programme, finance secured through the French Government as part of the France 2030 plan operated by ADEME, plus private funding from partners and shareholders.
“Crucially, it will provide an opportunity to drive substantial improvements in the competitiveness of floating wind as we prepare for long-term mass deployment in locations around the world,” he added.
The Innovation Fund, financed by revenue from the EU Emissions Trading System, is a ‘cap and trade’ system to reduce emissions via a carbon market. So far, a total of EUR 6.5 billion has been awarded to more than 100 projects undertaken in European Economic Area countries.
