Wind

Bill Gates-backed 'fold-up' floating wind turbine gets millions more investment

Climate focused venture capital firms support round to commercialise innovative Aikido platform technology

A rendering of the Aikido floating turbine design folded to pass under a bridge.
A rendering of the Aikido floating turbine design folded to pass under a bridge.Photo: Aikido
US Offshore Wind Editor, Recharge

Half a dozen climate focused venture capital funds piled into Bill Gates-backed US floating wind startup Aikido Technologies' $4m seed round funding to commercialise its innovative platform technology.

The San Francisco-based company is developing a foldable platform that can be towed horizontally to an offshore wind site, with a view to a smaller portside footprint, lower costs, and reduced fabrication timelines.

Azolla Ventures led the funding round, which included Propeller Ventures, Sabanci Climate Ventures, Cisco Foundation, Anthropocene Ventures, and others.

Bill Gates-founded Breakthrough Energy Fellows is funding Aikido’s first pilot deployment, the Aikido One, currently under construction in Louisiana by Morrison Energy and slated for demonstration on the Gulf of Mexico coast later this year.

“Bringing strong financial investors to the table represents a huge milestone for Aikido and for the floating wind industry writ large,” said CEO Sam Kanner.

“Floating wind must become commercialised by the end of the decade so that we can meet decarbonisation targets set by pioneering offshore wind countries, including the US, UK, and others in Europe and Asia.”

According to National Renewable Laboratory calculations, some 58% of the US offshore wind resources totalling some 2.8TW lie in deep waters of the Pacific and farther out to sea in the Atlantic, requiring floating technologies.

President Joe Biden’s administration is targetting 15GW of floating capacity by 2035 through its Floating Wind Shot, driven by cost reductions of some 70%, to around $45/MWh.

Aikido’s platform includes pin joints that enable serialised production of its 13 major steel components as well as a unique design that allows it to fold up during assembly, occupying around a third of the port space needed by other designs.

Its re-usable assembly structure enables quick placement, final assembly, and transport and has been granted “Approval-in-Principle” by standardisation body American Bureau of Shipping (ABS).

“I welcome the announcement of this financing as a great signal for Aikido and the strength of the floating wind industry,” said Rob Langford, ABS vice president, global offshore wind.

The US has already leased deep water acreage off its Pacific coastline in California holding some 7GW of capacity and is in process for floating rounds in the Gulf of Maine and Oregon wind energy areas.

A rendering of the Aikido floating wind platform.Photo: Aikido Technologies
Floating wind has seen major procurements in the European and Asian sectors but has so far struggled with high costs and tenuous government support which risks creating a costly and fragmented global industry.
European stakeholders have become less optimistic about the sector as major hurdles and risks to the technology become increasingly apparent, a survey by market research and consulting firm Westwood Global Energy Group found.

Only around 250MW of capacity is currently in operation, nearly all of it in Europe.

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Published 20 June 2024, 20:30Updated 21 June 2024, 06:48
AmericasUSFloating windJoe BidenBill Gates