The Offshore Floating Wind Industry Floats Away From The US

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US President Donald Trump has been trying to unravel the US offshore wind industry, with limited success. Five active offshore projects along the Atlantic coast are on track for completion, and states along the Pacific Coast are also preparing for a wind-powered future. The Pacific states can’t do much for now, but after Trump leaves office — peacefully this time, one hopes — they will be able to take advantage of new floating wind technology.

The Floating Offshore Wind Factor

In the US, the Atlantic coast states have been running ahead of the offshore wind curve because their waters are generally shallow enough for conventional offshore construction, in which wind turbines perch on long monopiles sunk into the seabed.

Monopiles are impractical, if not impossible, in the deep waters of the Pacific Coast. The solution is to seat wind turbines on platforms that float on or partly below the surface, anchored to the seabed by a slim cable.

Floating turbine technology is relatively new to the offshore wind industry, with its own set of engineering challenges. That explains why the Pacific Coast states — California, Oregon, and Washington — have been sitting on the sidelines while Atlantic coast states have been racing head, including Rhode Island, Massachusetts, New York, and Virginia with Connecticut playing a supporting role. Maryland is among other Atlantic states with an offshore wind project moving through the pipeline, assuming no further interference by Trump.

The X1 Wind Factor

Floating or not, the opportunities for Pacific Coast offshore wind all but evaporated after Trump took office for the second time in January of 2025. Still, the wind will keep blowing long after he leaves office as scheduled on January 20, 2029. Presumably the next President to occupy the Oval Office will be more concerned with the welfare of the nation and less concerned about keeping their relationship with the notorious sex criminal Jeffrey Epstein under wraps.

In the meantime, US innovators in the floating wind area have already packed up and taken their technology elsewhere around the world, one leading example being the startup Principle Power, which received a generous assist from US taxpayers on its way to commercial success.

Another example of US influence on the global floating wind industry is the Spanish offshore wind turbine firm X1 Wind. The startup began to take shape back in 2012, while co-founder and CTO Carlos Casanovas was studying at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The company launched in Barcelona in 2017 with Alex Raventos on board as co-founder.

CleanTechnica caught up with X1 Wind back in 2022, when the global economy was emerging from the COVID pandemic. The pandemic exacerbated a chronic labor shortage among marine industries, and X1 focused attention on the labor-saving potential of floating wind turbines that can be assembled on shore, minimizing the hours spent at sea. The company’s unique “weathervane” turbine mooring technology also attracted the interest of offshore stakeholders.

“We have developed a disruptive technology to make a step-change in the costs of floating wind,” X1 explains. “We achieved this by using a weathervaning downwind concept and a single-point mooring system (PivotBuoy®), resulting in a cost-effective and scalable solution.”

The mooring system is designed to pivot around with the direction of the wind, similar to the familiar rooster-embellished rooftop weather vanes of yesteryear.

“The PivotBuoy is designed to be pre-installed with the mooring system and to allow a quick connection and disconnection of the platform,” X1 elaborates. “This allows the platform to be assembled onshore and then towed to site using local vessels instead of heavy lift vessels, which simplifies offshore operations and reduces installation costs.”

In addition to savings on labor and vessel costs, X1 notes that its semi-submersible floating platform weighs about 1,500 tons, shaving 30-50% off the weight of conventional floaters with a follow0on savings in cost. Part of the savings is due to the use of lightweight tension-leg architecture, which eliminates the need for a single, central tower.

Next Steps For The Floating Wind Turbine Of The Future

X1 Wind has not let the floating wind grass grow under its feet. The company has been busy over the past four years, earning itself a slot in the European Commission’s NextFloat and NextFloat+ floating offshore wind acceleration programs, in partnership with the diversified firm Technip Energies and other stakeholders. X1 has also tested a partially scaled but fully featured demonstrator in the challenging waters of the Canary Islands.

In the latest development, X1 earned a “Statement of Compliance for Basic Design” for its X100 wind turbine from the leading risk management firm DNV.

“This independent endorsement confirms that the X100 design meets rigorous international safety, engineering, and technical requirements, providing a critical validation of the platform’s integrity and constructability,” X1 explained, with 100 referring to the 100-meter hub height of the turbine).

“It confirms that the platform’s structural design, stability, and hydrodynamic behaviour including its response to 500-years extreme waves, wind, and currents are within safe and predictable limits,” the company added.

Floating Wind Is Coming For Your Fossil Fuels

X1 also states that it has contracts in hand for the next iteration of its floating wind turbine, the X150, which is capable of handling turbines in the 15-20 megawatt range.

Don’t get too excited just yet, though. The X100 still has to be put through its paces. As the next step in the NextFloat initiative, it will go to the PLEMCAT (the “R&D&I Platform in Marine Energies of Catalonia“) test site in the Spanish Mediterranean Sea, where it will be assessed for a period of several years.

As for here in the US, when Trump took office in January of 2025 he announced that his government would issue no new offshore leases for wind farms. That hasn’t stopped California from moving forward with plans for a new offshore wind support facility at the Port of Long Beach, with a focus on floating turbines.

In Oregon, state officials are moving forward with the creation of an offshore wind roadmap. Based on lessons learned during an earlier offshore wind attempt that hit a brick wall in 2024, the aim is to identify and assess stakeholder concerns and potential obstacles.

Washington State Attorney General Nick Brown also reminds everyone that the US offshore wind industry is still alive and kicking. In December of 2025, he celebrated a win in court, with a coalition of 18 attorneys general, against Trump’s order freezing onshore and offshore wind projects.

“In contrast to fossil fuels, which are often subject to volatile market conditions, wind power enhances Washington’s energy security and economic stability,” Brown said in a celebratory press release dated December 9.

Did Brown have a crystal ball? That statement is doubly true now that Trump has spiked a global energy crisis by taking the US into full-on war against Iran. For that matter, the war also failed to knock the Epstein files out of the headlines. Who voted for this guy, anyways?

Image: A new floating wind turbine that shaves the cost of labor, equipment, and materials has just reached a key certification milestone from the global risk management firm DNV (cropped, courtesy of X1 Wind).