Offshore wind pioneer BlueFloat CEO: 'There's a risk, but the biggest risk is to miss the opportunity'

Floating wind may be at a crossroads after a difficult two years, but the boss of an offshore player with a 27.5GW pipeline of floating projects reckons that 2024 could still be the year that the fledgling technology finally goes big time.

BlueFloat Energy, a Madrid-based offshore wind developer backed by US private equity firm Quantum Capital Partners, is better placed than most to gauge the risks and rewards of floating wind.

With projects moving at different speeds in at least 10 countries, BlueFloat has been assessing the best technologies and industrial strategies in markets with varying challenges.

The company counts the UK, France and Italy among its core markets, but has been working on entrance plans and supply chain development in four different continents, including some plays where the regulatory framework and offshore wind plans are still taking shape.

While broadly focused on Europe and APAC markets such as Japan, interest extends to some attractive outriders such as Colombia and the Philippines.

“Is there some risk there? Yes. But for us, the biggest risk is to miss the opportunity... and there's a big opportunity here,” says CEO Carlos Martin.

ScotWind gigawatts

Three of BlueFloat’s UK projects were acquired in the 2022 ScotWind lease round through a partnership with Renantis, a Milan-based renewables developer whose own merger with Ventient Energy will lead to the adoption of new name, Nadara.

Another two – Sinclair and Scaraben, both 99.5MW – were bid into the UK’s Innovation and Targeted Oil & Gas (INTOG) lease round for floating wind, leading to the signing of exclusivity contracts in April.

Sinclair and Scaraben are within the “innovation” category of INTOG, a floating wind licensing format which has the dual aims of derisking technology and supply chains and decarbonising North Sea oil and gas production.

The rest of the BlueFloat-Renantis ScotWind portfolio is made up of the 1.2GW Bellrock project and the 1GW Stromar project, where Orsted is also a partner.

“The UK is at the core of our priorities. We currently have 3.3GW there on a gross basis and we believe we probably have space to expand capacity in these same areas to closer to 4GW, looking to the future,” says Martin.

With stakeholder engagement ongoing on the ScotWind projects, consenting applications are likely to be submitted by 2025, he added.

BlueFloat is now one of the many companies looking ahead to the UK’s contract-for-difference (CfD) allocation round, with a specific funding pot for floating wind, and supply chain preparations are fundamental.

“We are working with the supply chain to engineer our projects and ensure that we can deliver them with as much local content as possible,” Martin says.

Among the other targeted destinations are France, where BlueFloat is lined up to participate in a first floating wind tender for the Mediterranean through a partnership with Japan’s Sumitomo Corporation and local developer Akuo.

The Med I&II (AO6) tender features an initial two 250MW wind farm areas in the Occitanie and Provence-Alpes-Cote d'Azur (PACA) regions respectively, and does so under an all-in-one process covering seabed lease, interconnection and CfD.

Both areas are extendable for another 500MW, for a total capacity of 1.5GW allocated by 2025 or 2026. This extension forms part of the future AO9 tender for 2.5GW of floating capacity in total.

“We are looking to open the door for the development of floating wind in the Mediterranean, which we believe is a high potential region. So France is a key market, we will participate in subsequent tender processes there,” Martin says.

The third standout European market for BlueFloat is Italy, where the company has been working with Renantis (now called Nadara) as its partner since 2021.

Earlier this year, the pair submitted environmental impact assessments for the giant Odra and Kalia offshore wind projects off the coastline between Lecce and Brindisi, both of which are described as €4bn projects.

“This is a very important milestone. It represents significant investment in its own right in things like ground investigation, technology and wind measurement and is part of the consenting process that its required to participate in the future CfD rounds," says Martin.

Planning for the 1.3MW Odra wind farm suggesting 90 floating offshore wind turbines and Kalia, described as a 1.2GW wind farm with up to 78.

BlueFloat Energy, like others, were encouraged by the European Commission’s approval under state aid rules of a proposed Italian offtake scheme using CfDs supported by a renewables levy included in electricity bills, confirmed on 17 June.

“We expect to see the offshore wind tender called as early as the first half of 2025. That's going to be another market that will develop quickly in our view," Martin says.

'New offshore wind region'

The company is working on potential entry moves in an unusually broad range of floating wind markets.

In Spain, the company is preparing for an inaugural floating wind tender under a partnership with Plenitude, the renewables arm of Italian oil major Eni, and Spanish engineering and construction group Sener.

“The Spanish legislation for offshore wind has been published and is going through public consultation, so it’s coming. Floating wind tenders are already happening in France, and Italy will follow," Martin says.

He argues that Italy and Spain approving legislation for CfD tenders supports the case for the emergence of a new offshore region in the Mediterranean

The status is similar in Portugal, where local renewables developer Greenvolt is the chosen partner.

Martin detects a step change in terms of progress toward advancing commercial scale projects that goes beyond Europe.

“If I look at all that is going on this year there's quite a number of elements that makes me think 2024 will come to be seen as the year of floating wind,” he states.

To support this he points to the latest CfD round in the UK with its specific funding pot for floating wind and also to France, where a first floating CfD tender was awarded, a second is ongoing and a third is expected to to be announced soon in the shape of AO9, with its 2.5GW all floating.

This optimism extends to Taiwan, where BlueFloat is planning to submit a proposal under a floating wind demo tender for an initial 200MW.

Plans for Taiwan also extend to a likely bid in a commercial offshore wind lease round expected in in 2025.

“So far, all the commercial tender project projects in Taiwan have been fixed-bottom. But the capacity for fixed bottom is now being exhausted. And the future capacity in subsequent rounds, in our view will mostly be floating. So we want to be ready for that," Martin states

Part of that readiness is evidenced by the obtaining of full EIA consenting for the company’s planned 1GW Winds of September array off the coast of Hsinchu. “We think floating wind in Taiwan is coming. And it it could potentially have the first floating project to be executed in APAC, in Asia Pacific," he adds.

Martin also notes that a first FEED was awarded for a commercial floating wind project in Korea, but admits that this is an attractive market where BlueFloat was a little late to the table.

'Faster than you think'

“So the level of progress that they are we are seeing in 2024 has no comparison whatsoever with the past. Most of the new capacity is more than 100MW... many are commercial-scale projects. This proves that floating wind is here to stay. And it's progressing faster than many people think,” he states.

This belief not shaken by political turbulence in Europe and the growing influence of a populist right that often questions the feasibility of the whole zero emissions quest.

"We might see a few small delays in some geographies, but when you look objectively into what is happening in the floating wind space, you clearly see a major turning point," Martin insists.

Further up the pipeline, BlueFloat is also engaged in business development for floating wind in New Zealand, the Philippines and Colombia.

Interest in a non-core market such as Colombia reflects what Martin calls a strong belief in the fact that many countries will need offshore wind for sustainable economic development.

"Colombia is a market that requires a massive deployment of new power generation. It's suffering from el Niño effect on its hydroelectric plants and requires significant new renewable generation," he says.

Onshore developments have their own challenges, especially with the local communities in La Guajira which has the best winds in the country. So we believe offshore wind can emerge as a solution for those challenges," he reckons.

"It's not yet perceived as a top-tier market. But we believe that it's a good example of how offshore wind can respond to the needs not just of the developed economies, but also developing economies.

"Colombia still has a long way to go but was the first country in the Americas to issue legislation for offshore wind, the first to call seabed lease tender. We are planning to participate in this tender, although we also are cautious. We need to get visibility about offtake of the power before we can make substantial investments in the country," he notes.