X1 Wind develops a patented floating offshore wind concept based on a Tension Leg Platform (TLP) mooring with a weathervaning system and a downwind turbine. The design enables a lighter floater with significantly reduced steel requirements and a more efficient, restricted mooring system that minimizes seabed impact and is scalable for 15+ MW turbines. The concept originated in 2012 at MIT and the company has progressed the technology through tank testing and the design, assembly and load-out of a full-featured part-scale demonstrator in the Canary Islands. X1 Wind was awarded the European Innovation Council (EIC) Accelerator programme to develop and scale up its innovations. The firm has been building a team of offshore-wind experts and advancing commercialization plans. Technip Energies recently invested and entered an operational partnership to support technical development, industrialization and commercialization. X1 Wind has developed PivotBuoy, a single-point mooring system platform intended to lower costs and enable deeper-site floating offshore wind. The company says PivotBuoy can cut platform weight by as much as 80% and reduce costs by 50%, with a commercial target of €50/MWh. The platform can operate at increased water depths compared with other floating solutions, opening sites previously inaccessible technically or commercially. X1 Wind plans to deploy a prototype at a test site off the Canary Islands as part of a nine‑partner consortium. The company was first backed by EIT InnoEnergy. The prototype project will start on April 1 and run for 36 months.

Total raised

$5M

Funding rounds

2

Latest round

Equity

Latest activity

Mar 2019