Davis-based Wind Harvest International looks to equity crowdfunding to raise $2.5 million

See Correction/Clarification at end of article

Near-ground wind turbine technology company Wind Harvest International Inc. is raising $2.5 million on San Francisco-based equity crowdfunding site Wefunder to continue to test its machines and to begin to deploy them.

The Davis-based company has had one of its units in continuous testing at the UL Advanced Wind Turbine Test Facility at Texas A&M University for more than a year, and it has surpassed expectations, said Kevin Wolf, CEO and co-founder of Wind Harvest.

The new money will be used to examine and measure wind turbulence of the turbines in relation to being installed under taller, utility-scale propeller windmills.

The new money is in addition to over $1.4 million the company raised in equity crowdfunding last year.

Wolf said the company would also seek additional funding from accredited investors. The current crowdfunding campaign has six months to raise the money.

Wind Harvest also hopes to build and deploy 15 to 20 turbines in California next year. Those would stand alone, rather than being deployed under existing propeller turbines, Wolf said. They are going to be deployed in Solano County in areas where taller windmills are not allowed because of proximity to Travis Air Force Base near Fairfield.

Wind Harvest has been working since 2006 on its technology. The near-ground wind turbine technology has applications on most California wind farms, where there is often significant near-ground wind. The technology could allow existing wind farms to double their output from the same land. The new testing will make sure turbulence from the near-ground turbines doesn’t harm taller propeller windmills, Wolf said.

Wind Harvest last year moved from Sacramento to Davis.

The company has nine employees plus a number of consultants.

Near-ground wind tends to have more turbulence than higher wind, and that plays havoc with the drivetrains of propeller windmills. The Wind Harvest “H-type” turbines are oriented vertically, and their aluminum blades are anchored on both ends, which allows them to accommodate turbulent wind.

Wind Harvest had hoped to raise this money last year, but it was required by the Securities and Exchange Commission to provide a third-party audit. That took a while for the company, which unlike most startups has a 16-year history, Wolf said. Wind Harvest could eventually raise money from private equity or venture capital firms, but those investors first want to see revenue, and the company is still pre-revenue, he said.