X1 Wind’s PivotBuoy technology has been granted the 2025 Merit Award at the TERA Awards, jointly organized by Towngas, a leading Hong Kong utility company, and Full Vision Capital, a private family office investing in climate-tech and clean energy ventures. The prize was presented on July 18th, during the 4th edition of the TERA Awards held at the University of Cambridge.
The TERA Awards aim to foster the growth of a green economy by identifying and supporting pioneering technologies that will shape the future of smart energy. The competition provides finalists with access to investment opportunities and expert resources, helping them turn innovation into impactful commercial solutions.
Out of more than 780 applications from over 75 countries, X1 Wind was honored with one of the distinctions. This recognition followed a rigorous and highly competitive selection process, which included screening, expert interviews, and a final assessment by an international jury. The award highlighted X1 Wind’s technological floating wind innovation, commercial potential, and strong alignment with the smart energy vision championed by the TERA Awards.
The 2025 TERA Awards covered a wide range of categories, including renewable energy, energy storage, hydrogen, carbon neutrality, smart cities, and digital innovation. Among these fields, X1 Wind stood out as the only company recognized in the floating offshore wind sector, a testament to the uniqueness and relevance of its solution within the industry and the global energy transition.
The PivotBuoy technology represents a disruptive breakthrough in the floating wind sector. This platform combines a Single Point Mooring (SPM) system with a downwind turbine configuration and a Tension Leg Platform (TLP) mooring system, enabling operations in deeper waters with a cost-efficient and environmentally friendly design.
Among its main advantages is a significant reduction in structural costs, thanks to a design that allows for considerable weight savings. This translates into reduced steel usage and a more stable structure that can be easily towed by local vessels, simplifying installation logistics and reducing supply chain bottlenecks. Additionally, the TLP mooring system minimizes the seabed footprint, reducing environmental impact and allowing for better coexistence with other marine activities such as fishing. Altogether, these features contribute to a substantial reduction in the Levelized Cost of Energy (LCOE), making floating offshore wind more competitive with a lower environmental impact.
The technology was successfully validated in 2022 through the deployment of a part-scale functional prototype in the Canary Islands, becoming the first fully operational floating wind platform of its kind (TLP) in the world. It is now entering the commercial scaling phase through the European NextFloat project, which will involve the deployment of a pre-commercial platform in the Catalan Mediterranean Sea.
Carlos Casanovas, CTO and Co-founder of X1 Wind, received the award and shared his thoughts on this milestone:
“We are truly honored to receive the Merit Award from the TERA Awards. I would like to thank Towngas and Full Vision Capital for recognizing the potential of our PivotBuoy technology. This is a meaningful step forward, and we hope it will be the first of many collaborations that allow us to bring our floating wind innovation to Asia and beyond. At X1 Wind, we are committed to accelerating the clean energy transition not only by drastically reducing the costs of floating offshore wind, but also by doing so with the least possible impact on the environment.”
