Offshore
A Barcelona-based start-up, X1 Wind, has begun operation of a self-aligning, floating wind power prototype called PivotBuoy. This platform aims to achieve significant weight reductions compared with current offerings, and swivels passively with the wind, removing the need for motorisation and expensive active orientation of traditional turbines. Mae Losasso speaks with João Neves, strategy and business development at X1 Wind, to learn more.
en years ago, if you spoke with a professional from the wind industry and you told them that you wanted to go to deep areas with floating turbines, people would say you were you crazy,” quips João Neves, strategy and business development director of Barcelona- based technology company, X1 Wind – and he’s not joking. “I’ve heard stories about this. People would say, ‘that will never happen, that’s too difficult, [it requires] too much steel, it’s too expensive’.” However, times change and technology changes with it, and what was once impossible can become increasingly achievable. Leading this charge is PivotBuoy, X1 Wind’s innovative single point mooring system. In October 2022, after several years in development, the company successfully installed and operated their floating wind prototype, the X30, at the PLOCAN test site in the Canary Islands. So much for “that will never happen”.
Co-founded in 2017 by Carlos Casanovas and Alex Raventos, X1 Wind are a technology-based company looking help solve the challenges of the energy transition. “We come from different backgrounds, but our common goal is to develop intelligent solutions to power the energy transition,” Neves says, “and we started with floating offshore wind.”
Whatever floats your turbine The idea came about back in 2012, when Casanovas was specialising in tension-leg platform (TLP) design as a master’s student at MIT. “The World Bank and other sources estimate that about 80% of the wind at sea is in areas that are deeper than 60–70m,” Neves explains. “Casanovas saw that the future was of wind would be offshore and mainly in floating areas.”
Unlike more traditional monopile turbines, which must be located in shallower waters so that
Pivot to the future “T
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World Wind Technology /
www.worldwind-technology.com
X1 Wind
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