The European Commission has selected Technip Energies, X1 Wind and a consortium of 10 international entities to deliver the NextFloat project. The NextFloat project main objectives are to demonstrate a competitive, sustainable, and integrated floating offshore wind solution optimised for deep waters and to accelerate the industrial-scale deployment of floating offshore wind.
The project includes the deployment of a full scale 6MW prototype at the Mistral test site in the French Mediterranean Sea in order to demonstrate the concept in operational condition. It is enabled by the participation of the Open-C foundation, which structures and operates all the test sites for marine renewable energies and offshore wind power in France.
The integrated system design and its manufacturing, assembly, and installation procedures will thus be tested at a scale that is relevant to the upcoming commercial offshore wind farms that will require industrialised solutions for applications in excess of 15MW and beyond.
The consortium also includes Naturgy, 2B-Energy, Hellenic Cables, Ocean Ecostructures, Schwartz Hautmont, Tersan Shipyard, Ecole Centrale de Nantes, Ocas, Hydro, and the Technical University of Denmark, in addition to Technip Energies and X1 Wind. The grant agreement is currently under negotiations with the European Commission and the project is expected to start in the 4th quarter of 2022.