Project description
Lightweight, high-performance offshore wind platforms that self-orient
Europe has tremendous potential for generating a large amount of its electricity from offshore wind farms. Exploiting that potential will require a significant decrease in costs, and one of the most effective ways to address this is through already existing platforms. Most are adapted from onshore counterparts, meaning weight was not a consideration either for building or for installing. The Spanish SME Exponential Renewables has developed a floating system with single point mooring, enabling it to act like a weathervane. The new system automatically orients to the best position and eliminates the very heavy equipment previously used for orientation, slashing weight and maintenance costs. The EU-funded X1 Wind project is paving the way to commercialisation.
Objective
X1 Wind is developing a disruptive floating wind system with the potential to make a step change in the sector.
Europe’s best wind energy resources are located offshore in deep waters with an estimated potential of 4.000GW. This is why the European Commission has identified the development of floating substructures for deeper waters as one of the key strategic targets in the SET-Plan Declaration.
However there are several challenges to be overcome, mainly related to the need to reduce its costs: current solutions use “marinized” traditional turbines mounted on the top of existing Oil&Gas platforms resulting in very heavy structures and requiring large and expensive vessels to be installed.
Unlike other floating designs, X1 Wind has redesigned an integrated solution which takes advantage of its floatability instead of working against it. By using a downwind configuration and a single point mooring system, we allow the floating platforms to weathervane, self-orientating itself with the wind. By doing this we can remove the active yaw system, the ballast system and the tower which are no longer required, reducing the platform weight by 80% and the maintenance required. The impact is a 50% reduction of the cost of energy.
The concept is the result of more than 20 years of combined experience and learning of its founding team in offshore renewables, who have worked in some of the leading companies in the sector. Since its creation in 2017, this innovative SME has received international recognition with the Cleantech Camp prize and the selection into Singularity University Incubator’s program (in NASA Ames research Centre in Silicon Valley).
We have also received letters of interest of two leading European utilities (Gas Natural Fenosa and EDP Renewables) and turbine manufacturer Alstom Wind / GE and we are collaborating with of the most experienced R&D centre in the sector (WavEC, Plocan and DTU) to bring our technology to the market.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
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Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
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H2020-EU.2.3. - INDUSTRIAL LEADERSHIP - Innovation In SMEs
MAIN PROGRAMME
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H2020-EU.3. - PRIORITY 'Societal challenges
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H2020-EU.2.1. - INDUSTRIAL LEADERSHIP - Leadership in enabling and industrial technologies
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Topic(s)
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Funding Scheme
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
SME-1 - SME instrument phase 1
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Call for proposal
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
(opens in new window) H2020-EIC-SMEInst-2018-2020
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Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.
08034 Barcelona
Spain
The organization defined itself as SME (small and medium-sized enterprise) at the time the Grant Agreement was signed.
The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.