Slater commits $200K to startup wind energy company Aquanis

NEAL FINE, founder of Aquanis, is using "breakthrough" technology to make wind energy turbines more efficient, bringing down the cost of the form of renewable energy. The Slater Technology Fund recently committed $250,000 in funding for the company. / COURTESY NEAL FINE
NEAL FINE, founder of Aquanis, is using "breakthrough" technology to make wind energy turbines more efficient, bringing down the cost of the form of renewable energy. The Slater Technology Fund recently committed $250,000 in funding for the company. / COURTESY NEAL FINE

(Updated 9:50 a.m.)
PROVIDENCE – Aquanis LLC, a startup developing a device to improve the efficiency of utility-scale wind turbines, will receive $200,000 from the Slater Technology Fund.
Slater announced the funding in a news release on Tuesday.
Founded by Neal E. Fine, Aquanis’ mission is to reduce the cost of wind energy.
“The maturation of wind technology has been characterized by massive growth in turbine size, to maximize the swept area, but there are limits to this trend due to the increased wear and tear in the blades and the turbine’s gearbox,” Thorne Sparkman, managing director at the Slater Technology Fund, said in a statement. “Aquanis’ technology will enable deployment of larger turbines by mitigating these loads.”

The release said the cost of wind energy can be reduced by deploying “larger, more efficient and durable wind turbines.” However, designers must find a way to lessen fatigue loads in the turbine blades, which are caused by unsteady aerodynamic forces.

Solutions so far featured moving parts, something that is costly and difficult to implement. Aquanis is working on technology that would solve this problem without using moving parts and making minimal blade modifications.

Aquanis’ system features a blade-mounted plasma flow actuator – a software-controlled solid-state electrical device that it said is both simple and inexpensive. The system is based on patented technology developed at the University of Notre Dame.

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The market for Aquanis’ device includes all new wind turbine construction – currently 25,000 utility-scale turbines per year with total capacity of 63 gigawatts. This market is expected to continue growing by 12 percent per year through 2025. The company is targeting the top 10 wind turbine manufacturers, including Vestas, Siemens, GE, Goldwind, Enercon and Suzlon, as customers. Together, those companies cover approximately 70 percent of the global market.

Said Fine, “Many of the top manufacturers are now turning to smart blade technologies to further reduce the cost of energy to consumers. An on-blade air flow control system will allow them to build taller towers and larger and longer lasting blades without significantly changing the cost of materials. The timing is right to introduce Aquanis’ plasma flow control technology. We are thrilled to partner with Slater to help us bring this exciting technology to market.”
Slater, a nonprofit tech fund, makes investments through an infusion of federal funding. It previously received state funding, but has not received funding for the past two years.

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