Chinese giant hires BlueFloat founder to lead floating wind charge

A new floating wind division of Dajin Offshore will be based in Madrid, just like BlueFloat.

Already a leading supplier of monopiles in China, Dajin has made its ambitions of establishing a significant presence in the European supply chain clear, with a high-profile hiring campaign seen recently.

In a LinkedIn post, Dajin said it has set up the dedicated floating unit to strengthen its capabilities as a global supplier of foundations for the offshore wind industry.

Naming Martin as general manager, Dajin said its floating team will pursue a mission of delivering a one-stop floating foundation solution, spanning manufacturing, transportation, assembly, and final delivery.

"This is designed to support developers and EPC contractors in reducing costs and accelerating large-scale commercialisation," Dajin stated.

The yard group said Martin brings 20 years of floating wind industry experience, including financing, development, construction, and execution.

He was also project director of the 25MW WindFloat Atlantic project at EDP Renewables (EDPR) until 2017, the first floating wind project to secure a bank finance structure.

The new company made several other key hires from the former management ranks of BlueFloat, including chief commercial officer Walid Oulmane, who was head of sourcing and ports at his former employer and worked previously at SBM and GE Wind.

Francisco Villazón, who was appointed head of engineering for floating wind, held the same role at BlueFloat, where he was involved in developing the floating foundations for projects such as Hywind Scotland, WindFloat Atlantic and Kincardine.

Corentin Thepaut , former technical manager for BlueFloat Energy, will serve as tender manager for floating wind.

Tipping point

“I will be responsible, together with an amazing team of floating wind experts for the overall coordination of Dajin’s strategy and activities in floating wind outside China, with a focus on Europe and APAC (ex-China),” Martin posted on LinkedIn.

He reiterated his belief that floating wind “is close to a tipping point that could unlock almost unlimited potential”.

Martin said he was encouraged by consolidation of floater designs and a growing number of commercial projects under development in France, the UK, France, South Korea, Italy, Ireland, Spain and Portugal.

“We expect more to come in the coming months,” he said, noting that around 2GW of these earlier projects have now secured long-term power offtake agreements.

Martin also said Dajin's main goal is to prove that these projects can be delivered with "scale, quality and at a competitive cost".

Bankability

“If we are able to prove that we can deliver on such expected growth, at cost and with full bankability, there is little doubt this will trigger a virtuous cycle of further growth and further cost reductions,” he stated.

Dajin is already one of the biggest suppliers of monopiles for bottom-fixed offshore wind projects in major European markets.

Rivals stated that the Chinese company is “leveraging on more than 25 years of experience in steel manufacturing including on-time and cost-competitive delivery of foundations for the offshore wind industry."