TOWS
Towable Offshore Wind Systems, Inc.
Designing profit into offshore wind.
Our turbine and platform are designed together to ride the waves rather than resist them, cutting structural mass by about 75%, putting LCOE below fixed-bottom, and slashing needed infrastructure investment.
Can floating offshore wind be CHEAPER than even fixed-bottom offshore wind? We believe our disruptive, patent-protected TOWS innovations are key to accelerating the expected 1200 GW global buildout.
The Problem
Offshore wind platforms, including floating platforms, are overengineered. They are designed on the constraints imposed from onshore turbines and for nacelles that must be held almost motionless. This requires massive structures with deep drafts and therefore specialized ports and large cranes. Maintenance is difficult and costly. When something breaks, it must be sourced far away and fixed at sea. This creates delays, risks, and high expenses. There is no rapid, cost-effective way to service these systems requiring them to be unusually durable.
The Solution
The SOLUTION is to offer a novel turbine that is lower-cost and motion-tolerant, to devise a lightweight and easily manufactured platform, and to use the resulting mobility to design for an efficient tow-to-shore maintenance approach. TOWS is a complete wind platform designed from first principles that is
- Much lighter based on a tetrahedral frame
- To tolerate wave motion, the robust axle is supported both upwind and downwind
- Engineered to move with the waves instead of needing to resist them
- Easily towable to shore for service. No offshore crews. No specialty infrastructure. Fast turnaround. Everything is built around servicing turbines on land, not in open water.
Benefits
Based on huge savings on weight, fabrication, construction and maintenance, our design is intended to reduce the levelized cost of electricity by up to 50% and cut maintenance costs by up to 80%. By working in both shallow and deep water, it should also 3x site access. Our systems will be built for distributed and utility-scale developers and range from 250 kW to 15 MW.
Up to 50%
Lower levelized cost of electricity
Up to 80%
Lower maintenance costs
3×
Site access, shallow and deep water
250 kW to 15 MW
Distributed to utility scale
Join Us in Revolutionizing Offshore Wind Energy as we pioneer innovative floating wind turbine technology to harness offshore renewable energy efficiently and safely.
Technology
Wave Following
Reduced mass and cost
Our approach reduces capital costs by enabling a drastic reduction in floater mass and eliminating the need for ballast.
Swap and Tow
Maintenance in port, not at sea
Simple mooring and electrical connections and shallow draft enable turbines to be swapped and returned to port for maintenance.
Single Line Mooring
Simple attachment
Passive adjustment to the wind and reduced mooring complexity.
TOWS, Inc. aims to develop and commercialize an integrated suite of solutions to some major difficulties and costs of offshore wind.
Our solution looks like a pyramidal structure with the rotor rotating between two upwind legs and two downwind legs. The above-water structure is unusually light in weight and easy to manufacture. It will use modular construction to support the rapid onshore replacement of any damaged parts.
As part of the core innovations, the floating pontoons are extremely shallow-draft (hence just 5% or 10% the weight of conventional floating platforms). And there is only a single mooring line + redundant backup, to encourage passive alignment to the wind, and ease disconnection for towing ashore.
This obvious-seeming underwater geometry is actually very innovative, because it causes the system to ride over waves, rather than having to remain fixed while waves pass. All the loads are less, reducing weight and allowing construction with relatively thin steel. But the wave induced motions are significantly increased.
A conventional turbine can not be mounted between the tower legs without substantial modification. And conventional turbines are engineered to tolerate only slight motions. For both these reasons, TOWS will be developing a new generation of horizontal axis wind turbine – lighter in weight, lower in cost, and intended to be easier to manufacture and maintain without specialized shipyards.
Designing from the outset for very low maintenance costs is key. It also greatly accelerates offshore wind industry expansion opportunities by reducing port infrastructure and offshore vessel requirements.
Our Vision
We are pursuing a disruptive quantum change in the technology of offshore wind. Aims include:
In order to leave behind a paradigm that struggles to win profit, we are willing to re-think all conventional limitations.
- LCOE even below bottom fixed, but with a floating platform viable in 20m – 1000m depths
- Largest profit per MWh generated
- Economical also in smaller markets, and/or smaller capacities
- Least infrastructure investment required
- Utilizing local fabricators
- Virtually eliminate downtime with “hot swappable” whole turbines
- An alternative to current turbine OEMs
- Escape the pressures to grow ever larger, and to guarantee ultra long life
History
The origins of TOWS
2019
TOWS technology was originated by Jim Papadopoulos and Andy Myers, with a 2019 patent filing on the core shallow-draft wave-following invention by Northeastern University (granted and still pending patents now assigned to TOWS).
2020
Jim and Andy founded T-Omega Wind™ in 2020 to validate and develop the technology. Some of the progress can be seen here
2025
In 2025 TOWS Inc., a new and distinct corporation, was spun out of T-Omega Wind to allow Jim to continue pursuing his vision for the technology.
TOWS Inc. has title to the original pending patent case WO2020168343A2 – Shallow draft, wide-base floating wind turbine without nacelle – Google Patents, which protects the core technology in US and Europe.
Team
Jim Papadopoulos, PhD, PE
Founder and President
Jim’s career in engineering started at MIT where he focused on engineering mechanics, science of materials, and innovation. Over four decades he spent some time as engineering faculty, and the rest as a mechanical engineer developing innovative machinery and structures. Jim has also followed a lifetime interest developing recognized expertise in the science of bicycles, which informs his focus on low cost, high performance, and innovative designs.
Nathan Post, PhD
Chief Technology Officer
Nathan earned his PhD in Engineering Mechanics from Virginia Polytechnic, and pursued a career in the wind industry, first at Fraunhofer IWES, then at NREL, and then as a technology leader at startup wind farm optimization company Windesco Inc. Prior to joining TOWS Nathan was a research associate professor at Northeastern University and provides technical consulting to renewable energy startups.
Fraser Murison Smith
Chief Operating Officer
Fraser brings experience as a founder, employee and consultant from several prior start-ups, including one with a successful exit. He has 30 years of industry experience in energy and utilities, software and information systems, cleantech, and circular bioeconomy, encompassing project management, business planning, financial modeling and RD&D. Fraser received his PhD in theoretical ecology from Oxford University and has published three books on planetary economics.
Advisors
Charles Nordstrom, Naval Architect, MSE, PE
Charlie is an experienced Professional Naval Architect. His career has embraced multiple innovative directions. He spent more than a decade at leading Naval Architect firm Glosten (creator of the innovative Pelastar floating turbine), 2 years at offshore wind consulting firm BVG, 4 years leading Google-Makani’s successful development of a leading tethered kite wind turbine, and 2 years as COWI’s associate technical director of floating offshore wind.
Andy Yett
Andy built a precision manufacturing business, and focuses on helping the team address scaling of manufacturing and quality control.
Colin Heschel, PhD, Startup and Exit Specialist
Colin earned advanced degrees in Human-Computer Interaction at Simon Fraser and University of British Columbia. But most of his career has been spent as an entrepreneur, then an Interaction Architect or User Research Specialist, bringing startups to large companies.