Investment in Ocergy from Octopus Energy’s generation arm will help reduce the time and cost of developing floating offshore wind farms.
Ocergy, a US-headquartered technology company with operations in France, uses a hyper-local supply chain approach to designing and manufacturing floating foundations, working with manufacturers and creating green jobs in areas where the turbines are installed.
Its lighter, modular designs improve efficiency, too, making the turbine foundations easy to transport and assemble. The green tech disruptor is working with major developers across multiple gigawatts of projects, it said. Ocergy’s first foundations are expected to be installed by 2025/26.
Dominique Roddier, CEO of Ocergy, said: “At Ocergy we are incredibly enthusiastic about this collaboration with Octopus Energy Generation. It will empower us to scale up our operations and concentrate on delivering both pre-commercial and large-scale floating offshore wind projects.
“There are lots of synergies between Octopus’ forward-thinking efforts in offshore wind and Ocergy’s accomplishments to date – and we foresee significant boost in the bankability of our projects as a result.”
The investment from Octopus will help commercialise the technology and fuel the company’s expansion into new markets. It is made on behalf of Vector, Octopus Energy’s offshore wind fund launched at the end of last year, and marks the latest step in the company’s global offshore wind rollout.
Floating foundations are used where coastlines are too deep for foundations to be fixed into the seabed. With roughly 80% of the world’s offshore wind resources located in deep waters, the technology has great potential.
The UK is targeting 5GW of floating offshore wind capacity by 2030. RenewableUK said that the UK has “the second largest global pipeline of offshore wind projects at all stages of development at nearly 100GW,” more than six times its current capacity.
Zoisa North-Bond, CEO of Octopus Energy Generation, said: “Tech and innovation are fueling the energy revolution globally, so we’re always on the hunt for game-changing solutions that accelerate progress.
“Ocergy’s groundbreaking approach has the power to slash the costs of floating offshore wind – and with our investment they will get there faster, paving the way for cleaner, greener energy systems across the globe.”
