Bruno G. Geschier, Chief Sales and Marketing Officer at Ideol, talks to PES about the growing demand for floating offshore solutions…
PES: Welcome to PES Wind magazine. Thanks for talking with us. Would you like to begin by explaining a little about the background of your organization and how you currently serve the offshore wind industry?
Bruno Geschier: The background of our organization is quite unique as it was created 5 years ago starting from a clean sheet of paper and with a true market-driven approach. Some floating technologies originated from companies in search of diversification, taking advantage of an existing industrial background (eg. shipyards, bottom-fixed foundation mfrs, etc.); others came straight out of academia or R&D centres, often trying to innovate for the sake of innovation. Ideol basically started when the 2 co-founders looked at the market potential and asked themselves one simple question: “how can we innovate in order to develop today’s but also tomorrow’s most competitive floating wind technology?”. That was 5 years ago; we’re now a team of more than 60.
PES: Is offshore wind energy a growing business area for Ideol? How are you capitalizing on this growth?
BG: Floating offshore wind is and has always been Ideol’s only business area and field of expertise. We’re capitalizing on this burgeoning (and still niche) market’s growth by being present in certain key markets through the recruitment of senior business development staff. We’re also developing strong business relationships with both potential customers and other strategic partners in order to be as market-ready as possible when time comes. Last year, we signed a first commercial contract in Japan with Hitachi Zosen for the development of 2 full-scale demonstrators scheduled to be commissioned by the end of the summer 2017. We also signed an agreement with a leading Taiwanese company (CSC) aiming at developing a full-scale demonstrator. Last but not least, we are starting the construction of France’s first offshore wind turbine in a few weeks.
