Community Wind

Startup gets funding for new kind of wind turbine
By Scott Duke Harris
From mercurynews.com

sdharris@mercurynews.com

Posted: 01/06/2010 05:44:24 PM PST
Updated: 01/06/2010 08:33:26 PM PST

Jan 6:
HP, Yahoo to share in stimulus planClean tech: Venture capital firms invest at least $5.6 billion in 2009A drive through Altamont Pass, where one of the world's largest wind farms sprouted in the 1980s, is a consistent source of wonder. The sight of nearly 5,000 wind turbines still seems like an otherworldly invasion of robots performing an oddly static technological ballet.

But why are so many of the three-bladed turbines not turning? On the plus side, they aren't killing birds — but is this really any way to harvest electrons?

Now what's as old as the wind seems new again. Energy economics and concern over climate change have made wind a candidate for "Next Big Thing" status, with a Berkeley-based startup called Nordic Windpower angling to play a leading role. Within a few years, Nordic Windpower CEO Tom Carbone says, Californians may expect to see vistas altered by the erection of 300-foot-tall turbines equipped with two enormous blades that rotate more slowly than their three-bladed cousins.

Just one of Nordic Windpower's 1-megawatt turbines, Carbone said, can do the work of 8 to 10 of the Altamont models — and produce enough power for 250 to 300 households. Nordic also claims that its technology is more durable and reliable than rival two-blade turbines.

Aesthetically, opinions are sure to vary. But Union City, Ind., staged a parade to welcome two of the 1-megawatt turbines to generate electricity for its local school district and community.

The "community wind sector," Carbone said, represents a huge


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market opportunity. Many municipalities, school districts and large businesses, he said, are considering tax-incentivized investments in turbines that would generate electricity close to the users. "Community wind," Carbone said, "should grow by 2,000 to 2,500 megawatts per year over the next three to five years, and we would like to lead that sector."

Nordic this week announced $38 million in a third-round of funding led by Khosla Ventures, with participation by New Enterprise Associates (NEA) and other investors. Its total funding has not been disclosed.

The company is hardly typical of Silicon Valley. Founders Steve Taber and Jim Walker are renewable energy veterans who, recognizing the global demand for more turbines, did a global search that found a Swedish technology that included a flexible "teeter" hub and other advances that enabled the turbine to function more smoothly than rigid turbines.

"The Swedes really found an elegant solution to optimize the performance of the two-bladed turbine," he said.

Nordic's founders initially were interested in licensing the technology, Carbone said, but ultimately raised money from London-based Goldman Sachs International to acquire it. To date, Nordic has shipped five of its turbines, including three to a utility in Uruguay. It has orders for 14 more. They are built in Pocatello, Idaho. Khosla partner Jim Kim joined Nordic's board with the investment.

NEA raises a whopper: For NEA, one of valley's biggest venture firms, the Nordic investment might have seemed like pocket change in light of its announcement Wednesday that it had raised a new $2.5 billion fund, burnishing its top-tier status.

That's a remarkable 17 percent of all venture dollars raised in recession-racked 2009, according to the firm, a period when many other venture firms chose to postpone fundraising efforts.

It may also represent more proof that strong firms are flexing their power in the Darwinian struggle for venture dollars.

The fund, the 13th in NEA's history, is expected to be deployed primarily in clean tech, information technology and health care.

Contact Scott Duke Harris at sdharris@mercurynews.com or 408-920-2704.