To scale up, to drive cost down and to secure on-time delivery, innovation is a prerequisite from conception to execution and O&M.
BW Ideol’s thrives on innovation. BW Ideol thrives on real floating wind experience and on a successful international track record.
BW Ideol thrives on being a pioneer, on being a first and/or only leading player in floating offshore wind.
First full-scale offshore wind turbine in France, first one connected to the French grid
Floatgen (2 MW) is in operation for more than 4 years off Le Croisic (Atlantic Coast) and has already produced more than 20 GWh. Learn more about this French premiere here.
Only full-scale floating wind turbine in operation in France
Floatgen is the first and still the only full-scale operating in France. Learn more about this project here.
First floating wind leader to announce a multi GW project development pipeline in Japan
BW Ideol is involved in the most strategic markets with more than 3,4GW of substantiated pipeline of projects under development across Europe, Asia and the US. In Japan, we have the largest project pipeline with more than 2.2GW under development. Learn more about our projects in Japan here.
Only floating wind turbine technology successfully operating on two continents and two strategic markets
First full-scale floating offshore wind turbine built in concrete
We were among the first to believe in concrete as the best construction material for floaters (Floatgen's floater has been built in concrete in Saint-Nazaire harbour) and we still think so ! Concrete - compared to steel - is the least polluting material, the least subject to price volatility, and the easiest to supply. DNV has recently published a report (conducted for JELSA) which indicates that "Concrete floaters come out on top in terms of cost, carbon-footprint and european serial production capabilities".
But that does not prevent us from being agile and manufacture our Damping Pool® in steel for pilot-scale projects or in countries with very mature steel and shipbuilding industries.
Picture credits : BW Ideol / Bouygues TP / Centrale Nantes
First in local value creation thanks to concrete hull construction
Thanks to concrete, BW Ideol's floating foundation offers multiple construction and launching methods to guarantee the highest level of local content near the project sites. Watch here the local benefits generated by the Floatgen project.
Only floating wind technology to successfully weather storms in the Atlantic and typhoons in Japan
Floatgen (France) and Hibiki (Japan) have both demonstrated that BW Ideol’s technology is not only universal but can perform, produce power and safely weather extreme conditions such as typhoons. BW Ideol has recently announced a record production day for Floatgen on Nov 7th 2022, this with an amazing average capacity factor of over 80% since Nov 1 & with waves of up to 4.5 meters.
First floating wind technology in terms of compactness when fitted with tomorrow's large-scale offshore wind turbines
Damping Pool® is the most compact floating foundation on the market. This compactness applies to the dimensions of the barge, whether in width or draft, and allows for access to more port facilities in order to build, launch, store and tow-back (when justified) the floating substructures as well as assemble and fit the wind turbines at quay.
First full-scale floating offshore wind turbine with synthetic mooring lines
Innovation is everywhere in our solution, and also in the mooring system. The use of synthetic fibers (as it's the case for the Floatgen project) reduces costs while being resistant in the long-term.
Picture credits : Bexco / Centrale Nantes
Only floating offshore wind technology to secure long-term and exclusive harbour access for serial hull fabrication and launching
BW Ideol has gained an exclusive and long-term access to Ardersier Port (Scotland) for the manufacturing of concrete floaters. With this partnership, BW Ideol is the only company securing a unique access to a strategic asset, unlocking the bottleneck of port infrastructure availability in Scotland.
Picture credit : Ardesier Port Authority
First floating offshore wind solution in terms of flat deck surface to facilitate offshore O&M as well as major component replacements
On top of allowing a wind turbine quay-side installation, our barge-type technology meets the main challenges of O&M and MCR.
First floating offshore wind technology selected for one of the winning ScotWind leases
The development of the Buchan Offshore Wind project has been allocated to BW Ideol, in partnership with BayWa & Elicio, within the framework of the ScotWind tender led by Crown Estate Scotland. BW Ideol is both positionned as a co-developer, but also as the technology provider of this 1GW project.
First and most mature floating substation concept
BW Ideol and several partners has developed a universal floating offshore substation solution. Based on the Damping Pool® concept, the modular substation is engineered to operate in the world’s most extreme environments and to offer maximum modularity. The design enables efficient quayside installation, testing and pre-commissioning of the topside and offshore installation without heavy-lift offshore operations. BW Ideol’s proven supply chain supports onsite serial production and creation of local jobs. This substation is market-ready for upcoming commercial floating wind tenders world-wide.