Staying ahead of the technology curve means strengthening your competitive advantage. That is why we give you data-driven innovation insights into the energy industry. This time, you get to discover 5 hand-picked wind energy startups.
Out of 1 146, the Global Startup Heat Map highlights 5 Top Wind Energy Startups
The insights of this data-driven analysis are derived from the Big Data & Artificial Intelligence-powered StartUs Insights Discovery Platform, covering 2 093 000+ startups & scaleups globally. The platform gives you an exhaustive overview of emerging technologies & relevant startups within a specific field in just a few clicks.
The Global Startup Heat Map below reveals the distribution of the 1 146 exemplary startups & scaleups we analyzed for this research. Further, it highlights 5 wind energy startups that we hand-picked based on criteria such as founding year, location, funding raised, and more. You get to explore the solutions of these 5 startups & scaleups in this report. For insights on the other 1 141 wind energy startups, get in touch.
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Pecos Wind Power makes Low Wind Speed Turbines
The amount of electricity that a wind turbine generates largely depends on the consistency and speed of the wind. Wind power intermittency is one of the major hurdles for large-scale wind power generation. This is because strong winds are not available everywhere, and more importantly, not at all times. To tackle this, energy startups are making wind turbines that work efficiently at low wind speeds.
US-based startup Pecos Wind Power offers distributed wind turbine solutions for onsite and community-serving power generation. The startup’s PW85 turbine is optimized for low wind speeds. The low wind speed design also boosts capacity, increasing energy production. Additionally, it uses a tilt-up tower and installation system that reduces the balance of station (BOS) costs through containerized transportation, ground-based assembly, and crane-free installation.
Nabrawind manufactures Self-erecting Towers
Wind speed increases with height and the efficiency of wind turbines depend on the same. As a result, most turbines need towers to provide them with extra height. However, installing these towers is time-consuming and expensive as well as requires a significant workforce and machinery. To simplify the process, startups are deploying self-erection systems for wind energy towers. This enables fast installation while reducing foundation, logistics, and installation costs.
Nabrawind is a Spanish startup that provides Nabralift, a self-erecting wind turbine tower technology. It sets up a full wind turbine generator (tower, nacelle, rotor) without using large-size cranes, regardless of the final hub height. Additionally, the startup offers a modular blade system, Nabrajoint. It enables wind turbine blades to be manufactured in two or more parts. This, in turn, eases the transportation as separate parts are assembled on-site.
Diffuse Energy provides Compact Wind Turbines
Wind turbines are capable of generating electricity even at night or during rainy weather. Despite this, when it comes to renewable power generation, solar modules are preferred over turbines. This is because of the large size of the turbines and logistical difficulties in accessing the location. Due to this, startups are designing compact wind turbines that plug into existing energy infrastructure. This allows the users to shift from fossil fuel-based power to environmentally friendly wind energy.
Australian startup Diffuse Energy makes a compact wind turbine, Hyland 920. It contains a maximum power point tracking (MPPT) controller that optimizes the amount of power extracted for a given wind speed. For wind speeds beyond 65 km/h, the controller reduces the rotor speed to limit the power output to 1 kW and prevents damage to electrical systems. Additionally, an aerodynamic shroud encloses the rotor, preventing exposure to the blade tips.
Borrum Energy Solutions offers Home Wind Turbines
Self-generation of electricity not only reduces people’s dependence on public utilities but allows them to tackle power interruptions and blackouts, as well as reduce monthly electricity bills. Moreover, residential power generation facilitates clean energy production. To enable this, energy startups are developing a range of distributed energy resources (DER) solutions, such as home wind turbines.
Borrum Energy Solutions is a Canadian startup that manufactures Anorra, a modular wind turbine for residential power generation. The applications include radiant heating, water heating, lighting, water purification, and battery charging. Promoting clean energy production, the turbines lower greenhouse gas emissions, reduce electricity costs, and increase energy availability. The lightweight design further enables convenient transportation to remote locations and easy installation. Additionally, the turbine kits are customized for the user’s location with both tower height and anchor styles. The startup also finds a suitable placement for the turbines at the users’ homes with its maps.
First Airborne develops a Drone-based Wind Turbine Platform
Regular assessment of wind turbines is necessary for power plant operators to determine underperformance of turbines, misalignment of nacelles, or physical damage. The discovery of these issues at a later stage leads to a waste of resources. Moreover, checking each turbine manually is cumbersome and error-prone. So, to streamline the inspection process, startups are offering airborne platforms that utilize drone technology. This enables testing multiple turbines simultaneously, leading to significant time savings.
Israeli startup First Airborne develops a drone-based wind turbine services platform for wind energy operators. It works along with Windborne, a drone-mounted wind measurement sensor. Windborne collects data and, based on that, the platform provides performance insights on power curve validations, nacelle misalignment degrees, and structural degradation, among others. The users also have the option to schedule inspections on-demand. Additionally, the FABCAM feature allows the startup to capture live videos in case of any hazard or blowout preventer (BoP)-related trigger.
Discover more Energy Startups
Energy startups such as the examples highlighted in this report focus on clean energy, modular energy systems as well as decarbonization. While all of these technologies play a major role in advancing the energy industry, they only represent the tip of the iceberg. To explore more energy technologies, simply get in touch to let us look into your areas of interest. For a more general overview, you can download our free Energy Innovation Report to save your time and improve strategic decision-making.
