Landatu Solar secures €85,416 grant for SEAMOD offshore floating solar
Spanish startup Landatu Solar secured €85,416 to develop SEAMOD, a modular floating solar system built for the open sea.
The grant came through the Basque Hazitek programme, co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF).
SEAMOD uses a lightweight rectangular membrane reinforced around its edges, designed to move with waves rather than resist them.
Floating solar already works on reservoirs and ponds, but the marine environment remains largely untapped.
Offshore installations promise large-scale renewable generation while easing pressure on agricultural, industrial, and urban land.
Research institute TECNALIA is helping validate the concept, with consultancy Evolution Europe managing the funding application.
The sea is brutal. Waves, wind, currents, corrosion, and anchoring forces all demand a complete rethink of standard solar design.
SEAMOD must stay flexible enough to ride the water yet stable enough to hold panels safely.
The system also needs to be easy to transport, assemble, and scale, which competing rigid metal structures often are not.
The grant marks an early-stage bet by a government-backed fund — the European Regional Development Fund — on a Spanish startup still building out its floating solar facilities. Landatu Solar's wager is that a flexible, modular membrane, rather than the heavy rigid frames dominating today's marine solar, could finally make offshore generation commercially viable at scale.
Read more: evolutioneurope.eu
