Floating wind pioneer Ideol has sealed a €15m ($18m) capital funding round, led by Hong Kong-headquartered private equity firm Kerogen Capital, to accelerate its international development plans.

The investment, said by Ideol to “secure [its] long-term funding requirements”, will underpin progress of the French outfit’s ambitions in European and Asian markets, where its first two prototypes are on the cusp of installation.

Kerogen representatives will also join the Ideol board to shepherd the company’s growth efforts through its network in the international energy sector.

“Floating offshore wind is a burgeoning, yet fast-accelerating market, with several pre-commercial and commercial-scale projects announced or under development in France, Scotland, California, Japan and Taiwan,” stated Ideol chief executive Paul de la Guerivière.

“The backing of a well-established and internationally recognised energy specialist like Kerogen demonstrates that Ideol is well positioned to lead and reap the full benefits of this market’s acceleration.”

Philip Jackson, executive board member of Kerogen, noted: “We have been following the floating offshore wind industry for some time. Its supply chain has multiple cross-overs with where we already invest.

“We are firmly convinced that offshore floating wind will soon become a mainstream supplier of energy and that Ideol’s superior team and technology have a central role to play in making this happen.”

Ideol represents Kerogen’s first investment in the renewable energy sector, though the equity fund manager has over $2bn in assets in its portfolio, including many in offshore oil and gas.

Along with Kerogen, existing Ideol shareholders including Amundi Private Equity, Sofimac Regions and Paca Investment have signed up to subscribe to new shares.

Amundi’s Christophe Somaïni said: “We are pleased to contribute to this new step forward for Ideol after the successful construction of Floatgen in 2017 confirming our strong conviction in the technology and the management of the company.”

Ideol’s maiden unit, FloatGen, which flies a 2MW Vestas V80 turbine, is built around an open-centred 36-metre-square, 10.8-metre-deep ‘damping pool’ platform made of reinforced and pre-stressed concrete – an industry first. Installation of the flagship in the French Atlantic is “imminent”.

A second demonstrator, based around a steel foundation rather than concrete and topped with two-bladed Aerodyn turbine , will be installed off Japan this summer, as part of project being developed by a consortium including Hitachi-Zozen, Marubeni and the University of Tokyo.

Wind

Ideol lands €15m from Kerogen for global expansion