Gazelle Wind Power raises €11.4m for floating wind demo

Gazelle Wind Power has secured €11.4 million ($12.1 million) in its Series A funding round in Portugal led by Indico Capital Partners.

This investment will accelerate the deployment of Gazelle’s 2MW floating wind demonstrator, Nau Azul, off the coast of Aguçadoura, Portugal.

Other investors in the round included DST Group, August One, Wah Kwong, and E2IN2, among others.

“Indico’s reputation for backing pioneering, sustainable technologies speaks volumes about the potential they see in our floating wind platform technology unlocking the offshore wind industry globally,” commented Gazelle Wind Power CEO Jon Salazar.

Have you read?
Doosan Enerbility signs MoU for 750MW floating wind project
Port of Setúbal works with RWE to become floating wind logistics hub

“The Nau Azul project will serve as an example of how to design, build, instal, operate and therefore enable cost-competitive floating wind energy generation.”

Gazelle’s floating offshore wind platform uses a patented dynamic mooring system which reduces pitch and balances movement in response to external forces, including wind, waves, and tide.

Its lightweight, modular design is based on naval engineering principles, does not use active ballasting systems, and allows for scalable, adaptable configurations, making it suitable for deep water deployment. The modularity of Gazelle’s components also enables cost-effective fabrication in shipyards, with final assembly near the wind farm site.

Stephan de Moraes, co-founder and managing general partner at Indico Capital Partners stated: “Offshore renewables will be a fundamental contributor to a more sustainable energy production mix. For costs to be competitive we need new ways to build, instal and operate these mega structures. Gazelle offers a solution for that pressing problem of cost competitiveness with a “lego” type of structure that will bring costs down dramatically and enables the installation of deep-sea wind farms all over the world.”

Gazelle recently opened an office near the Nau Azul project site in Viana do Castelo, Portugal, to enhance engineering, technical, and administrative functions. This local presence will support Gazelle’s efforts to establish floating offshore wind supply chain networks, leveraging local shipbuilding expertise in design, fabrication, and deployment.