5 June 2023
Interview with Dimitrios Moudouris, Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer of Seawind Ocean Technology
This month we sat down with Dimitrios Moudouris, Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer of Seawind Ocean Technology, to talk about Seawind’s role across the offshore wind value chain, the rapid upscaling of turbine ratings, and their goal of becoming a resilient and cost-effective turbine supplier.
Can you tell our readers a little about your organisation?
In 2014, Seawind was created in the Netherlands by its founders Mr. Martin Jakubowski, Mr. Silvestro Caruso and Mr. Eugenio di Belgiojoso, as a response to an industry gap for cost-effective integrated wind turbine units for the offshore wind market. From a modest but highly experienced engineering base, Seawind has developed into a highly skilled project development and wind turbine technology company which is proprietary and fully patented. We offer services and equipment throughout the value chain, starting from early project development and wind turbine engineering to revenue-generating operations.
Today, we are a company full of people looking to make a difference to the environment and to the world through choice and endeavour. Our highly experienced teams are striving to create sustainable, highly effective and efficient project and supply chains, which the offshore wind industry has never seen before. We have set up entities in the Netherlands, Italy, Germany, Portugal, the United Kingdom and Japan with ambitious but sustainable plans for expansion and growth.
As a diverse company we are undertaking the development and permitting of two 300 MW electricity floating wind farms and a 3 GW electricity and hydrogen floating wind farm in Italy. We are also involved in a pilot floating project for the island of Curacao funded by the Dutch Government. And quite active and busy in developing our demonstration projects for 6 MW and 18 MW offshore units with TIER1 synergies and consortiums in Norway and Portugal.
In terms of partnering companies, we have engaged with companies like CEMEX, Petrofac, Dynaflow Research Group, Mitsui OSK Lines, JGC, ABB, TNO, NAVTEK, IH Cantabria in multilevel collaborations, R&D projects, exclusivity agreements and more.
What are the most exciting developments you have seen in the wind industry?
We are at a turning point in the energy industry and I believe I am lucky to experience this moment while also leading an exceptional team. You only get to experience that a handful of times in one’s career.
The most exciting part I would say, is the speed at which the wind turbine rating has upscaled. From 9 MW and 12 MW just two years ago, up to 18+ MW today. Of course that comes with its own challenges in terms of upsizing the foundation structures and handling the installation in a cost-effective and resilient manner.
Another exciting development is seeing companies like Seawind moving to become wind turbine suppliers – the section of the wind industry with the biggest supply chain bottleneck. I would be very excited to see more investment in companies focusing on the really problematic sections of the wind industry. I am also very excited for further innovations in digitalisation and AI application currently being undertaken by a few small but innovative companies.
Last but not least I expect to see a lot of exciting developments in terms of the integration of offshore wind and hydrogen production.
What changes would you like to see in the wind industry?
The wind industry suffers from high costs for materials and wide price fluctuations for commodities. I would like to see more focus on the use of non-rare earth materials, a focus on installation cost-cutting through alternatives to expensive installation vessels and on projects providing high local content with viable job creation figures. One more change that I would like to see as a standalone action is the safeguarding of competition rules, so we can avoid monopolies that would make cost reductions and eventually cheaper electricity prices less likely.
Going forward, what role do you see your organisation playing in the future development of wind energy?
I see Seawind as an integral part of the offshore wind supply chain. We will move forward with the full permitting of our projects in Italy over the next three years while we gradually and partly divest from these projects to focus on becoming a very strong, resilient and cost-competitive wind turbine supplier. We will be a cost-effective supplier and will also offer integrated units with the synergies we are preparing. We will help wind farm developers and owners cut costs and supply them with any number of wind turbines with improved CAPEX and OPEX. We will not be placing “order minimums” in the supply of wind turbines, and this is one of the biggest innovations and contributions we as a company will make in the development of wind energy.
How has WindEurope membership benefited your organisation?
We have received significant exposure to the entire value chain of the wind industry. We have also received high quality insights through the WindEurope members’ working groups on the development of regulations and policymaking. We have benefited from engaging with different industry members that are likeminded and who promote a sustainable agenda in terms of the supply chain, project permitting, innovation and job creation.
If we look ten years ahead, what do you hope to have achieved?
I wouldn’t say we hope, but I would rather say that we will have at least a 15-20% market cap in the wind turbine supply. We will continue to focus heavily on our liquidity and the first positive revenues in 2023 up to 2030. We will deploy our 6 MW demonstration unit by the end of 2025 and the 18 MW unit by the end of 2027 together with likeminded partners. We have planned ambitiously, but carefully, for the commercial launch of two wind turbine models and we are very excited and pleased to see interest and support from clients, partners and synergies we have created. We see great short and long term returns to our investors through positive equity/liquidity events and dividends over the next ten years.
Find out more about Seawind Ocean Technology
