BW Ideol teams up with Elawan Energy for multi-GW floating wind off Spain and Portugal

Floating wind pioneer BW Ideol has teamed up with Spain’s Elawan Energy (formerly Gestamp Wind) for the joint development of a multi-gigawatt floating wind pipeline off the Iberian Peninsula.

Elawan Energy, which is owned by Japanese financial group Orix Corp. since February, already has built 2.6GW of solar, wind and hydro capacity in Spain, and has more than 8.4GW of renewable projects under development.

“Elawan Energy has a strong and successful local presence in Spain and is now supported by one of the biggest financial companies in Japan, ORIX Corporation,” BW Ideol CEO Paul de la Guérivière said.

“Together with our winning floating wind experience both in project development and technology delivery, we’re highly confident that we’ll be able to develop and deliver the most competitive and credible projects.”

BW Ideol and Orix Corp. already cooperate in Japan as partners in one of BW Ideol’s commercial scale floating offshore wind projects that is currently under development.

Elawan Energy CEO Dionisio Fernández Auray said entering the offshore wind business allows the company to diversify its revenue streams and open new growth horizons.

“We are convinced that this strategic partnership will provide us with the necessary expertise to meet the technical and logistical challenges inherent in this type of project,” he said.

Elawan Energy (then still called Gestamp Wind) had been set up 2008 as one of the renewable vehicles of Acek Desarrollo y Gestión Industrial, the holding company of Spain’s Riberas family, who currently owns Gestamp Group – a Spanish multinational mostly active in automotive engineering.