Floating Wind Turbine for Utility Grid Patent Landscape
Floating Wind Turbine for Utility Grid Patent Landscape in 2026
The floating wind turbine for utility grid space is moderately concentrated, with academic and commercial filers sharing the top tier and the United States leading as the primary filing jurisdiction. The field is still expanding on a multi-year basis, though annual volume has eased from its 2023 peak and recent years remain understated by publication lag.
University of Maine leads a field split between academic and commercial filers
University of Maine holds the top position among the hundred largest filers, followed by Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy AS and Lone Gull Holdings Ltd. The ranking reflects an unusual competitive structure in which a university occupies the lead slot, pointing to the field’s ongoing reliance on government-funded and academic research alongside commercial development.
The top five filers account for 62% of the combined patent records of the hundred largest filers, indicating a moderately high concentration. A clear tier gap exists between the top three applicants and the remainder of the ranking, with Principle Power Inc and Vestas Wind Systems AS forming a second tier before activity drops off sharply.
| # | Applicant | Patent records | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | University of Maine | 164 | |
| 2 | Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy AS | 108 | |
| 3 | Lone Gull Holdings Ltd | 48 | |
| 4 | Principle Power Inc | 29 | |
| 5 | Vestas Wind Systems AS | 26 | |
| 6 | Subsea 7 Norway AS | 24 | |
| 7 | University of Malta | 16 | |
| 8 | GAMESA INNOVATION & TECH SL | 13 | |
| 9 | RWE Renewables GmbH | 13 | |
| 10 | Innovator Energy LLC | 13 |
| # | Applicant | Patent records | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| 11 | Floating Windfarms Corp | 11 | |
| 12 | Ocean Wind Tech | 11 | |
| 13 | MAGELLAN & BARENTS SL | 9 | |
| 14 | General Electric Renovables Espana SL | 9 | |
| 15 | Technip Energies France SAS | 8 | |
| 16 | APL Norway AS | 6 | |
| 17 | Envision Energy Denmark | 6 | |
| 18 | Zero E Technologies LLC | 5 | |
| 19 | University of Stavanger | 5 | |
| 20 | Dalian University of Technology | 5 |
The leaders’ positions imply that foundational platform and mooring-system innovations are largely staked out, but the entrance of industrial-scale OEMs such as Siemens Gamesa and Vestas as new entrants in the recent window signals that commercialization-oriented filings are now accelerating alongside the earlier research-stage work.
Filing counts for 2024 and 2025 are likely understated due to standard patent-publication lag of 18–24 months; apparent softness in those years should not be read as a slowdown. Longer-window growth, applicant concentration, and technology-route coverage are therefore more reliable signals than the latest-year bar alone.
Filings surged to a 2023 peak; technology mix spans turbines, marine structures, and grid systems
The two charts together reveal a field that expanded rapidly through 2023 and is now in a post-peak phase, while the technology composition shows that wind-turbine and marine-vessel classes dominate, with electrical grid and foundation classes remaining relatively thin.
Annual filing trend
Annual filings rose from 22 in 2017 to a peak of 102 in 2023, representing the core growth phase. The drop to 49 in 2024 and 13 in 2025 reflects publication lag rather than a genuine decline and should not be interpreted as contraction. The recent three-year window is 102% above the prior three-year window, confirming multi-year expansion.
↗ Hover for values · click a bar to ask EurekaTechnology composition
Wind-motor class F03D and marine-vessel class B63B together dominate the corpus, reflecting the dual engineering challenge of turbine performance and offshore hull design. Hydraulic machines (F03B), hydraulic engineering (E02B), and cable installation (H02G) form a secondary tier, while grid-integration (H02J) and motor-control (H02P) classes remain sparsely covered — a structural gap for engineers focused on the grid-side interface.
↗ Hover for values · click a bar to ask EurekaHighly cited patent families surfaced by the query
Citation-heavy patent families returned by the query. Use this section as citation context, not as a curated list of the most topic-specific patents.
Method of stopping an operation of a floating wind…
A method is provided of stopping an operation of a floating wind turbine, the wind turbine including a floating body, a tower mounted to the floating body, a nacelle mounted to the tower, a rotating hub rotatable mounted to the nacelle and having a plurality of blades, and a generator connected to the hub for generating electric power. The method includes… (excerpt from the patent abstract)
| # | Patent | Citations |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Column-stabilized offshore platform with water-ent… | 224 |
| 2 | Column-stabilized offshore platform with water-ent… | 110 |
| 3 | Power generation assemblies and apparatus | 97 |
| 4 | Power generation assemblies, and apparatus for use… | 94 |
| 5 | Floating Wind Turbine Platform and Method of Assem… | 83 |
| 6 | Offshore energy harvesting, storage, and power gen… | 74 |
| 7 | Power generation assemblies, and apparatus for use… | 70 |
| 8 | Floating wind turbine support system | 63 |
Ranked by total forward citations. Citation counts favour older and broadly cited patent families, and broad or adjacent patents may appear when they match the search scope. Treat this section as citation context, not as a curated list of the most topic-specific patents. Some patent titles may be shown in their original, non-English language where an accurate translation could not be guaranteed.
What the competitive structure means for R&D investment decisions
The combination of a growth-stage lifecycle, moderate concentration, and sparse grid-integration coverage points to specific areas where new entrants and challengers can differentiate.
Growth stage with annual volume easing from the 2023 peak
The field is classified as Growth, with recent three-year filings 102% above the prior window. Annual volume peaked in 2023 at 102 filings and has eased since, though publication lag makes 2024–2025 figures understated. The window is still open for differentiated platform, mooring, and grid-integration filings before the field matures further.
Growth stageTop five hold 62% of the hundred largest filers’ combined records
University of Maine, Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy AS, and Lone Gull Holdings Ltd form a dominant first tier. Principle Power Inc and Vestas Wind Systems AS constitute a meaningful second tier. Below that, most applicants hold fewer than 25 patent records each, leaving room for targeted portfolios in under-served sub-domains to stand out without facing entrenched incumbents across the board.
Moderate concentrationNo co-applicant collaboration patterns detected in current evidence
The evidence does not surface any co-applicant filing relationships within this corpus. The absence of visible collaboration signals that participants are currently protecting proprietary positions independently rather than through joint-development agreements — a common posture in early commercialization phases. Monitoring cross-applicant citation links may reveal de facto technology dependencies not captured in applicant data.
Evidence pendingUS and EPO lead; Denmark, Norway, and Australia reflect offshore wind markets
The United States is the lead filing jurisdiction, followed by the European Patent Office and WIPO PCT routes. Denmark, Norway, and Australia — all active offshore wind markets — appear in the mid-tier. The relatively low count for Norway and the UK, given their offshore wind ambitions, suggests that some applicants are prioritising broader PCT protection over individual national filings in those markets.
US-led, EPO secondGo beyond the landscape: Eureka’s TRIZ Solution agent breaks down an R&D problem and returns patented concept solutions, each with a technical approach and cited patent & literature evidence.
Co-filing pairs, ranked by the number of jointly-filed patent families.
University of Maine and Siemens Gamesa lead with divergent technology emphasis
The top two applicants differ sharply in focus: the University of Maine emphasises marine-vessel hull and floating-platform engineering, while Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy AS concentrates on turbine control, monitoring, and operational systems — reflecting the academic-versus-commercial divide in the field.
University of Maine
University of Maine is the top-ranked filer with 164 patent records, concentrated in marine-vessel structures (B63B 35) and floating wind-turbine installation and grid-connection (F03D 13, F03D 9). Their momentum trend shows a 35% decline in the recent window, suggesting the foundational filing campaign is maturing. Their portfolio underpins several of the most-cited column-stabilized platform patents in the corpus.
164 patent recordsSiemens Gamesa Renewable Energy AS
Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy AS ranks second with 108 patent records and is classified as a new entrant in the recent filing window, indicating a rapid build-out from a small or negligible prior base. Their focus spans turbine control (F03D 7), auxiliary and monitoring systems (F03D 80), and condition monitoring (F03D 17), positioning them on the operational performance and reliability side of floating wind rather than the structural platform side.
108 patent records| Applicant | Recent (3 yrs) | Trend |
|---|---|---|
| University of Maine | 20 | ▼ -35% |
| Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy AS | 99 | ▲ new entrant |
| Lone Gull Holdings Ltd | 10 | ▼ -62% |
| Subsea 7 Norway AS | 6 | ▼ -65% |
| Vestas Wind Systems AS | 11 | ▲ new entrant |
| Gamesa Innovation & Technology SL | 13 | ▲ new entrant |
Grid integration and foundation engineering are under-served relative to turbine and hull classes
The five IPC branches flagged as adjacent to the dominant classes each carry low patent-record counts relative to the core wind-turbine and marine-vessel classes. Two stand out as having plausible near-term technical value for engineers designing grid-connected floating wind systems.
H02J · Power Supply & Grid Systems
This branch covers power-flow control, grid interconnection, and energy storage integration — all critical for utility-scale floating wind delivering power over long submarine cable runs. With only 17 patent records in the corpus, it is sparsely populated relative to the turbine and hull classes. Entrants with expertise in HVDC transmission, reactive power compensation, or offshore substation design could file differentiated positions here without immediately colliding with the dominant academic or OEM portfolios.
Search this in Eureka →E02B · Hydraulic & Waterway Engineering
This branch, covering mooring systems, anchoring, and seabed hydraulic works, holds 49 patent records — adjacent to the dominant marine-vessel class but comparatively thin given that mooring reliability is a primary engineering and cost challenge for floating wind at utility scale. The realistic entry path is through novel anchor geometries, dynamic mooring analysis methods, or shared-mooring array configurations, areas where the existing corpus has limited coverage.
Search this in Eureka →How leaders differ by technology route across turbine control, hull design, and hydraulic systems
Strength of each leader across the main technology routes.
| Player | F03D 13 · Wind motors (wind turbines) | B63B 35 · Ships & marine vessels | F03D 9 · Wind motors (wind turbines) | F03D 7 · Wind motors (wind turbines) | F03B 13 · Hydraulic machines & engines |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| University of Maine | Strong · 93 | Strong · 97 | Moderate · 35 | Absent | Absent |
| Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy AS | Moderate · 17 | Moderate · 10 | Moderate · 10 | Strong · 48 | Absent |
| Principle Power Inc | Moderate · 7 | Strong · 24 | Strong · 13 | Moderate · 9 | Absent |
| Subsea 7 Norway AS | Strong · 14 | Strong · 16 | Strong · 11 | Absent | Strong · 11 |
| Lone Gull Holdings Ltd | Absent | Emerging · 4 | Absent | Absent | Strong · 40 |
| Vestas Wind Systems AS | Moderate · 5 | Absent | Absent | Strong · 20 | Absent |
| RWE Renewables GmbH | Absent | Absent | Strong · 10 | Strong · 12 | Absent |
Frequently asked questions
University of Maine is the top-ranked filer with 164 patent records in the corpus, followed by Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy AS with 108 patent records and Lone Gull Holdings Ltd with 48 patent records.
The field is in a Growth lifecycle stage. Recent three-year filings are 102% above the prior three-year window, confirming multi-year expansion. Annual volume peaked at 102 filings in 2023 and has eased since, but 2024–2025 figures are understated by publication lag and should not be read as a real decline.
The United States leads with 145 patent records, followed by the European Patent Office with 132 and WIPO PCT with 80. Australia, Canada, Germany, India, Denmark, and Norway form a secondary tier, reflecting key offshore wind deployment markets.
Wind-motor class F03D and marine-vessel class B63B dominate the corpus. Grid-integration (H02J, 17 records), cable installation (H02G, 20 records), and foundation engineering (E02D, 18 records) are comparatively sparse, representing under-served adjacent branches.
The current evidence does not surface any co-applicant collaboration relationships within the corpus. Participants appear to be filing independently, which is consistent with a field where foundational IP positions are still being established.
The top five filers account for 62% of the combined patent records of the hundred largest filers, indicating moderate-to-high concentration at the top tier. However, most applicants below the top three hold fewer than 30 patent records each, leaving room for targeted new entrants in specific sub-domains.
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Disclaimer. This page is generated from PatSnap Eureka data drawn from a limited snapshot of global patent and scientific-literature records, and is provided for general information and reference only.
Patent data carries inherent limitations: recent filings (typically the most recent 18–24 months) are under-counted due to standard publication lag; counts may be reported at either a patent-family or a patent-record basis and are not always directly comparable; classification, applicant-name, and citation data may contain errors, duplicates, or omissions; and the underlying search query defines and constrains the scope shown. As a result, the analysis may be incomplete or inaccurate and may not reflect the full technology landscape.
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