Floating wind raises the stakes for offshore energy IP

• a day ago (2026-11-09)
• Junior Isles

Offshore wind 136

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By Lawrence Paleschi , Senior Associate Patent Attorney, Carpmaels & Ransford LLP

Britain is running out of the shallow waters that are best suited to conventional fixed-bottom offshore wind turbines and is turning to floating wind farms in deeper seas to unlock further capacity. Floating platforms can operate further offshore, where winds can be stronger and more consistent, giving significant performance improvements and opening up substantial new generating potential.

The past twelve months have seen a reported 38% increase in operational floating offshore wind capacity worldwide. This growing appetite for floating wind farms is matched in the UK, with projections of around 3,000 floating turbines adding 30GW of capacity around UK coasts over the next 10 to 15 years, including about 500 by 2030.

Current deployment remains small, with the UK’s current operational floating wind capacity at just 78MW, across two projects. The Government is supporting the infrastructure needed to bridge the gap; in March, it announced up to £64 million for design and engineering work to progress Port Talbot as a port specifically developed to support floating wind, helping unlock at least 4.5GW of potential projects in the Celtic Sea.

For companies in the sector, the next phase of offshore wind will depend on innovations that improve performance, reliability and cost. Protecting those advances must be a commercial consideration from the outset.

Innovation beyond the turbine

The growth of floating wind creates opportunities across the supply chain. Platforms must remain stable in demanding sea conditions; moorings and anchors must secure them; dynamic cables must accommodate movement while transmitting power; and corrosion, inspection and maintenance all pose challenges in a remote environment. Advances in these areas can reduce costs and improve availability, helping projects become commercially viable.

The opportunity also extends beyond generation. Offshore batteries, hydrogen production, subsea transmission and grid integration can help to manage intermittency and make better use of constrained onshore networks. Competitive advantage may therefore lie as much in the systems surrounding a turbine as in the turbine itself. Patents can protect these advances, but offshore energy presents a distinctive problem: a UK patent may be difficult to enforce against activities taking place far out at sea.

The territorial blind spot

Patents are territorial rights. A UK patent generally covers specified acts in the UK, including its territorial waters, which extend 12 nautical miles from the coast. The UK’s exclusive economic zone reaches much further, but it does not automatically extend the territorial reach of UK patent law.

That distinction was examined in Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy A/S v GE Energy (UK) Ltd ([2022] EWHC 3034 (Pat)). Siemens alleged that GE’s Haliade-X turbines for Dogger Bank infringed its patent. Notably, the High Court found that the planned offshore activities at Dogger Bank fell outside the territorial reach of the Patents Act 1977, rejecting the argument that installing wind turbines amounted to exploiting natural resources for the purposes of the relevant extension under the Petroleum Act 1998.

For an innovator whose patents protect only a complete installation assembled or operated beyond territorial waters, this can create an enforcement gap. A technically valuable patent may offer limited practical leverage if a competitor’s activities take place outside the territory where that patent can be enforced.

Drafting patents for how floating wind is built

Floating wind offers a potential advantage over its fixed-bottom counterpart when planning around this problem. Floating platforms are typically assembled and tested at a port before being towed offshore. Where assembly takes place on dry land or in a port, patent claims covering the overall product may provide an enforcement route that would not be available for turbines assembled far offshore, as is typical for fixed-bottom turbines. The position will, of course, depend on the specific activities and assembly methods involved, but location should be carefully considered when assessing how best to protect an innovation.

With this in mind, patent claims should cover commercially important components as well as the complete system: platform structures, mooring assemblies, dynamic cable connections, power-conversion equipment or control systems. Where the inventive concept lies in how parts interact, it may be possible to claim individual components in relation to one another, or a kit of parts intended for subsequent assembly.

Manufacturing processes may offer further protection. Under section 60 of the Patents Act 1977, a product obtained directly by a patented process can constitute infringement, even where the process itself is performed abroad. This may be relevant to components manufactured overseas.

Geographic filing strategy matters equally as much as claim drafting. Innovators should consider where components will be made, where systems will be assembled and supplied, and where projects will ultimately be deployed. Protection in relevant manufacturing and destination markets may be as important as filing in the country where a wind farm is located.

Protecting innovation and preserving freedom to operate

Patents are not always the right answer. Some control algorithms, operating techniques or maintenance methods may be better kept as trade secrets, particularly where they cannot readily be reverse-engineered from an installed system. This approach is made more viable by the remote and inhospitable location of the installations deterring prying eyes, although the risk of disclosure still exists within the supply chain, and trade secrets cannot prevent independent development.

Developers must also consider their own freedom to operate. As floating wind scales, companies will seek protection for overlapping technologies. Early searches and freedom-to-operate reviews can identify relevant third-party rights while designs are still flexible, allowing businesses to adapt before procurement and construction make changes expensive.

Floating wind could open up substantial new areas for renewable generation, but realising that potential will require advances throughout the supply chain. The companies best placed to benefit will be those that solve the practical challenges of deployment and protect their advances with an IP strategy built around how technology is made, supplied, assembled and used.