Every transformative idea has a beginning. For the Multipurpose Offshore Floating Platform (MOFP), it began over a simple cup of coffee in Kochi during one of Kerala's relentless monsoon seasons in 2025.
As torrential rains lashed the coast, two professionals Dr. Jayakumar, former Managing Director and CEO of the Vizhinjam International Seaport Limited, a veteran in renewable energy and blue economy, and Jiju Poulose, a Kerala born offshore infrastructure specialist based in Norway found themselves discussing a recurring tragedy.

For Jayakumar, the devastation along Kerala's coastline was a challenge he had encountered throughout a distinguished career in ports and maritime development in India and abroad. For Jiju Poulose, the issue was deeply personal. Born and brought serrealities of coastal life and the struggles faced by fishing communities. Settled in Norway, after gaining extensive experience in offshore engineering and energy projects, he brought together his personal understanding of Kerala's coastline with years of international expertise.

Every monsoon, Kerala's fishing communities endure enormous hardship. Powerful waves erode the coastline, swallow homes, damage fishing boats and fishing equipment, and leave thousands of families struggling to rebuild their lives. The annual fishing ban, imposed to protect marine ecosystems during the breeding season, further limits livelihoods, creating months of financial uncertainty.

As they reflected on these recurring challenges, the conversation evolved into a fundamental question:

Could an offshore platform (breakwater structure) do more than simply protect the coast? Could it also generate livelihoods, clean energy, food, and economic opportunities?

That question became the foundation of the Multipurpose Offshore Floating Platform (MOFP) an ambitious vision born from the combined expertise and shared commitment of Dr. Jayakumar and Jiju Poulose.

Rather than viewing coastal protection as an isolated engineering challenge, mostly addressed through hard structures built along the coast, they envisioned an integrated offshore ecosystem that combines coastal protection with aquaculture, renewable energy, seaweed cultivation, safe coastal navigation, recreational facilities, hydrogen production, and sustainable blue economy development. The concept reimagines coastal resilience as a catalyst for economic growth, environmental sustainability, and community development.

Multipurpose System

The MOFP comprises steel tubular structures with overall lengths of 200 m to 250 m. Tethered directly to the seabed, these platforms are positioned near parallel to the shoreline. The exact deployment location, including distance from the coast and operational water depth, is contingent upon site-specific bathymetry and dominant environmental parameters (met ocean data encompassing wind, wave, and tides).

These structures will reduce destructive wave forces long before they reach the shoreline, shielding coastal settlements, transportation networks, and prized land resources while concurrently creating productive economic assets. The MOFP systems will create extensive calm water zones that would otherwise be difficult to establish in open-sea environments. The sheltered waters can also support additional marine fish farming, shellfish cultivation, seaweed production, floating solar energy systems, marine logistics facilities, research and innovation platforms, and future offshore industrial infrastructure. By creating these protected marine zones, the project effectively establishes a new productive economic corridor along Kerala's coastline.

Renewable Energy 

A major component of the project is the integration of renewable energy generation within the protected marine corridor. The calm water areas behind the breakwater systems will be utilized for floating solar photovoltaic installations.

Following successful implementation, renewable energy capacity can be progressively expanded to approximately 200 MW through additional floating solar installations and complementary renewable energy technologies.

To capture offshore wind energy efficiently without expanding the platform's footprint, specialized vertical-axis wind turbines (VAWTs) will be integrated directly onto the MOFP's structural frames. VAWT arrays are deliberately selected over standard horizontal-axis models due to core structural and biological advantages.

Recognizing current market realities and infrastructure availability, the project can adopt an integrated phased approach to green hydrogen and ammonia production.

Adding Flavour to the Concept

What began as an idea shared over coffee soon attracted interest from experts and organizations across Europe and India. Discussions are now underway to establish an international consortium bringing together specialists in offshore engineering, maritime technology, renewable energy, and marine infrastructure from India, Norway, Finland, and Italy.

The Next Phase – Sea Trial
The initiative has now entered its next phase of technical evaluation. Dr. Jayakumar, an alumnus of IIT Madras has taken up the proposal with the Department of Ocean Engineering, IIT Madras, which will review the concept with a focus on engineering optimization and cost efficiency. IIT Madras, with its internationally recognized large scale wave modelling and testing facilities, could provide valuable technical inputs as the concept progresses toward implementation.


Subject to necessary approvals from the authorities concerned, plans are underway to develop and deploy a pilot-scale offshore platform for sea trials along Kerala's coastline. The pilot will validate the engineering design, structural performance, wave attenuation capability, and the integration of multiple offshore applications under real marine conditions.

If the pilot project proves successful, the long-term vision is to scale the modular offshore system in phases to generate approximately 200 MW of renewable power through integrated floating solar photovoltaic systems, offshore wind and wave energy. The renewable power generated would initially be supplied to the electricity grid before progressively supporting the production of green hydrogen, laying the foundation for a sustainable offshore clean-energy ecosystem



For the people behind the initiative, however, the project is about far more than engineering.  It is about giving fishing communities hope during the monsoon months, transforming vulnerable coastlines into engines of prosperity, and demonstrating that climate resilience and economic development can go hand in hand.

What began as a conversation between a port and maritime expert from Kerala and an offshore engineer from a small coastal town has grown into an international collaboration with the potential to offer a new approach to coastal protection for regions facing similar challenges around the world.


Sometimes, history doesn't begin in a boardroom. 

Sometimes, it begins over a cup of coffee on a rainy day in Kochi.