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Alternative Energy - Wednesday, January 6, 2010

Nordic Windpower Raises $38M

Berkeley-based wind turbine-maker Nordic Windpower has raised $38M in Series C funding. Khosla Ventures led the round with New Enterprise Associates, Novus Energy Partners, I2BF Management, Pulsar Energy Capital and return backer Impax Asset Management. The company previously raised an undisclosed amount of funding from Impax, Goldman Sachs and NBT AS. Nordic Windpower is the first and only wind power company to receive a commitment from the US Department of Energy’s (DOE) Loan Guarantee Program. Nordic won a $16M grant.

Last month, the company announced the shipment to Uruguay’s largest wind power developer of the first 3 of 19 turbines sold since May 2009. The other turbines will be shipped for projects in the US including schools, a municipal utility, a US Army base and wind farms.

What sets Nordic apart is their two blade approach - traditional turbines have been three-bladed. One of their two-bladed models is 20-25% less expensive for comparable power output.

Past experiments with two-bladed turbines weren't so successful, but Nordic has had two-bladed prototypes running for a decade. The technological key to success is a "teetered hub" on which the blades sit. This provides enough flexibility between the rotor and the driveshaft so that the blades can respond to shifts in the the wind that could otherwise strain the turbine's gearbox.

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