X1 Wind, which leads the project of the offshore wind floating platform PivotBuoy and that will test a part-scale prototype with a Vespas V29 turbine in real floating conditions at PLOCAN’s Test Site in the Canary Islands, has been selected in the last round of funding in the pilot phase of the European Innovation Council (EIC) Accelerator, together with 37 European start-ups and SMEs, to receive funding of between €1 and €17 million to develop and scale up ground-breaking innovations in Europe.
X1 Wind, co-founded by Carlos Casanovas y Alex Raventos, is developing a disruptive floating system to change the paradigm of the wind energy industry. Unlike other solutions, which use “marinized” onshore wind turbines on the top of adapted oil and gas platforms designs, we have designed an integrated system to take advantage of the offshore environment.
The company reached the last round of funding in the pilot phase of the European Innovation Council (EIC) Accelerator, which has received over 4200 applications. The companies were selected following a highly competitive evaluation by external experts. The highest scoring 134 applications were then invited to pitch online to an independent jury of experts, investors and entrepreneurs.
Each company will receive a grant of up to €2.5 million to support the development of their innovation, and 19 of them are set to also receive a direct equity investment of up to €15 million from the recently established EIC Fund. As well as the financial support, the start-ups and SMEs will have access to coaching, networking and business acceleration services to help them build their businesses.
The EIC Fund manages the equity investment, offering the opportunity for private investors to co-fund in highly innovative companies. Under the pilot phase of the EIC Accelerator start-ups and SMEs are set to receive both a grant and a direct equity investment to support their scale-up. The pilot scheme has gone from strength to strength and under the EIC Accelerator a total of 293 companies have been selected for funding worth over €1 billion since December 2019.
At the beginning of December, the pieces of the part-scale wind floating platform PivotBuoy arrived to its final destination, the port of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, where they are being assembled for its final goal: being operative in PLOCAN’s open ocean Test Site.
