Yes, there is so much untapped potential for wind and solar that at the current time it's pretty much pointless to spend R&D on unproven technology. We don't have the time to develop new methods for energy generation before we need to be mostly carbon neutral. For the same reason it doesn't make much sense to fund next-gen nuclear power. It just takes too long.

Perhaps the floating bit is the hold up. Extremely destructive hurricanes are a nearly annual occurrence in that area so the turbines must not be fixed and must be able to right themselves vertically after severe wind/waves. Otherwise they are not worth the investment.

Perhaps it would work better in estuaries, with clean(er) river/fresh water. The ecological impact may be prohibitive, but as an engineering task it seems easier.

Extracting tidal power from estuaries is another similar pipe dream - people have been discussing building one in the Severn estuary for as long as I have been alive.

Tide power is intermittent but extremely predictable and not tied to the diurnal cycle, which would be advantages.

They've been successfully extracting power from the Rance estuary for over half a century.

The trouble with estuaries is that in addition to the ecosystem damage and change to flood dynamics associated with hydro power in general, they also tend to be used for ships to navigate, so getting a scheme which suits everyone is a major challenge.