Soon, citizens in Fairbanks, Alaska will be seeing a more than bright stars in their sky. MIT-spun startup Altaeros Energies announced on Friday that the relatively rural town will be the first official site of the company’s low cost buoyant airborne wind turbine – a massive, blimp-like structure set to soar 1,000 feet above the ground. What’s more, the Somerville company plans to break the world record for the highest turbine ever deployed in the process.
The news comes on account of a $1.3 million, 18-month long project with Alaska Energy Authority’s Emerging Energy Technology Fund. The project is currently in the permitting stages, Altaeros Energies’ co-founder Adam Rein told BostInno.
“For a long time people have known that winds are stronger and more consistent as you go higher in the air,” Rein explained. In the past, however, wind turbines have been limited by how high cranes can lift the classic propeller portions onto their posts. The company’s technology moves beyond that obstacle by adding a helium-filled, inflatable shell that lifts their turbine to high altitudes, where winds are more powerful. The result: low cost energy for the $17 billion remote power and microgrid market.
The company, which works out of Somerville-based cleantech incubator Greentown Labs, has conducted multiple tests of its buoyant airborne turbine in Maine, but never before has the tech hit the 1,000-foot benchmark. During the first trial, the turbine went up 330 feet, the second, 500 feet. If it does reach the estimated height, though, there's big bragging rights to be had. The current record holder for the highest wind turbine, the Vestas V164-8.0-MW. Vestas recently installed its first prototype at the Danish National Test Center for Large Wind Turbines in Řsterild, with a hub height of 460 feet and blade tips that stretch over 720 feet high.
Altaeros Energies also recently received additional funding from RNT Associates International Pte. Limited, a company owned by Mr. Ratan N Tata, former Chairman of the Tata Group. Tata Power is the leading developer of wind energy projects in India, which just so happens to be one of the next deployment locations on the startup’s list. Altaeros Energies is also eyeing Brazil and Canada as potential project sites, and “all places where there’s expensive power and remote power needs,” shared Rein.
Altaeros Energies will continue to work out of Somerville, but has a local partner and project manager in Alaska who will assist with the projects preparation. The team is also looking to hire in the next few months.
