The Problem: Wind is one of the most cost-effective sources of energy; however, current technologies cannot be used in many exceptionally windy locations. The large, 300+ foot (100m) and taller wind turbines have an impact on views, wildlife, aviation, telecommunication, roads, and more that can prevent them from being installed on many otherwise profitable properties. These wasted locations alone are a $100 Billion market needing a much shorter turbine.
The most valuable unused resource is the gusting layer of near-ground wind that is too turbulent for large propeller-type turbines to handle. Twenty percent of wind farms worldwide sit on ridgelines and other places
where the wind funnels and speeds up near the ground.
Our analysis shows that almost 130 gigawatts (GW) of existing wind farms have good to excellent wind below the lower sweep of tall turbines' blades. Harvesting this rich layer of wind should, on average, double the land's energy output and open a
$250 billion undeveloped market.
The Solution: Our compact
Wind Harvester H-type turbines solve problems tall turbines engender and have the
durability needed for project financing. Unlike propeller-type turbines with blades attaching to horizontal drive shafts at a single point,
Wind Harvesters have vertically aligned drive shafts with two connections to each blade. These characteristics are core to surviving the powerful gusts that hit blades rotating close to the ground.
Central to our engineering confidence in this durability is our proprietary fatigue, frequency, mechanical, and aerodynamic models. Our engineers, led by renowned Dr. David Malcolm with his 40 years of vertical and horizontal axis wind turbine experience, used data from prototypes to validate these models. We know Wind Harvesters can endure tough conditions for 40+ years, after a low cost refurbishing in year 20.
With funding, nothing should stop
Wind Harvesters from achieving $1 billion in sales within five years.
Wind Synergy: When installed close together, the
"Coupled Vortex Effect" increases energy from H-type turbines by ~15%. Rows of
Wind Harvesters also
vertically mix wind layers and suck down faster-moving wind from higher altitudes into the rotors of tall turbines and increase their energy output.
Energy in the wind is proportional to the cube of its speed, so small boosts in its velocity significantly increase a turbine's energy production. The synergy between tall and short turbines should result in more profitable wind farms and more development of properties with lower wind speeds.
Making Money: We make money from the 20-35% markup on each Wind Harvester we sell. In 2021-2022, that will range between $30,000 and $60,000 per turbine. Sale prices will vary based on a project's profitability which is determined by wind speed, Power Purchase Agreement, number of turbines ordered, etc. In 2021-22, we expect to net an average of $700,000 from each megawatt of Wind Harvesters v3.2 (14-70kW, 20-50kW) turbines we sell.
As the size of the order increases, our per turbine Costs of Goods Sold will go down as might our markups. But even if we made only $15,000 per turbine sold, a 100 MW project would net $21 million for Wind Harvest.
Turbine sales open other revenue streams. Most buyers will pay us for extended warranty protection. Additionally, many buyers will want our 24/7 remote fault monitoring and our unique placement modeling services for near-ground wind turbines. These services create savings and increase energy production for projects. The larger the project, the more the potential for service-generated income.
Making More Money: We think our most significant stream of income will come from an untraditional source. The vast near-ground market is too big, and climate change too real, to act conventionally, and try to limit competition. So we plan on licensing our patents to partnering companies that want to produce their own brand of H-type turbines.
We have our own projects and customers, and a two-year technological head start, so we aren't concerned about competition. We believe our patents can save manufacturers $20,000 per near-ground turbine they make. If paid $5000 per turbine, we potentially could net millions of dollars annually from licensing the use of our Intellectual Property over the 17-year life of the patents, in addition to profits from our own sales. Doing this would also result in many more well-built near-ground turbines helping to reverse global warming.
Next, we anticipate raising $50 million in 2021 from the sale of Wind Harvest’s Series B shares. We will use that to finance and own projects that buy our turbines (see below). A year or two later, after banks refinance these projects, we intend to use that freed up capital to put 30% down and leverage loans on a suite of new projects that we will own. In addition to the income we make selling Wind Harvesters to those projects, we will earn revenue from the sale of our projects' energy and use of our services.
Projects in Development: One of our key strategies has been to develop projects that buy our turbines. Below are examples of some of the sales we have in our pipeline. We expect each of our RD&D/pilot projects in 2021-22 to lead to 10 to 100 times more Wind Harvesters sold to that customer or into that niche market.
1. Simpson Ridge, Carbon County, Wyoming One of our partners
, Clean Energy Holdings LLC, is expected to secure a permit and a Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) for a 5MW solar and a four turbine (280kW)
Wind Harvester installation in 2021. In 2023, they intend to purchase at least 360 of our turbines (25MW) for the understory of the 80MW wind farm they are developing. Near-ground annual wind speeds on Simpson Ridge average 20 mph (9 m/s), making it one of the world’s most energetic sites. It is an exceptional resource, just waiting for our turbines.
2. Mountain High, San Bernardino County, California In 2011, a local nonprofit, One Town at a Time, proposed installing a 1 MW, 300' tall (90m) turbine near the telecommunication towers on Frost Peak above the Mountain High Resort. They did not receive a project permit because of the towering turbine’s impact on views from the Pacific Crest Trail and on military flights in the area. Now, One Town is proposing to use this 18 mph near-ground wind resource with four 59’-72' (18-22m) shorter
Wind Harvesters in a demonstration project that should not be easily seen in the clutter of the taller telecom towers on the peak. Eventually, the project could add 30 more turbines with minimal impacts on views from the trail. Its success opens the door to thousands of
Wind Harvesters being installed globally on other windy telecom sites and send energy down their existing 3-phase transmission lines.
3. Multiple Projects, Barbados This Caribbean island depends on costly diesel-generated electricity and faces more climate-change-induced droughts. But it has plentiful near-ground trade winds and a goal of 100% renewable energy by adding 600+ MWs by 2030. Here, Wind Harvest is developing projects that provide cultural, environmental, and economic information needed for cumulative impact analyses of much larger projects. For example, we can manufacture 2000
Wind Harvesters in Barbados and install them on farms in windy St. Lucy Parish for a 100 MW hybrid desalination-wind project. When wind power exceeds grid capacity, the project would produce potable water from seawater.
Use of Funds : Wind Harvest has everything ready to complete
Technology Readiness Level (TRL) 7, the pilot project step in the commercialization process. NASA, the airline industry, wind turbine manufacturers and others use the TRL process to guide the development of a new technology. This step-by-step process helps ensure that the product works flawlessly when it is launched.. We have used that same process with our turbines.
To overcome the difficulties that capital-intensive products face with traditional investors, we formed
Wind Harvest Pilot Project Inc. to tap the power of crowdfunding.
This new company secures ~7-year promissory notes from individual investors via the Wefunder platform. 90+% of this money is then lent to Wind Harvest. After $150,000 is raised, we will order one Wind Harvester v3.1 for installation at Denmark's national wind testing center. The next $450,000 will allow us to complete TRL 7 in the spring of 2021. With the new data that step produces, we will revalidate our computer modeling of Wind Harvester v3.2, our final version of the turbine in this series. It is designed to be 25% less expensive and 10% more efficient.
The next $400,000 from Wefunder investors will be lent to build and certify Wind Harvester v3.2. Installed 3 feet away from v3.1, this sleeker turbine will further measure and validate the Coupled Vortex Effect. With funding, v3.2 should be certified (TRL 8) and ready for sales in the fall of 2021.
With $1 million in funding, our Wind Harvester can reach TRL 9, the final step in the turbine development process in 2021. The last step concludes after 10+ Wind Harvestershave at least one year of operational time and electricity sales. That operational documentation is required by banks before they will allow the turbines to be used as collateral for project loans.
The Future Our 7-year financials predict that Wind Harvest will grow from selling $5.5 million in 2021 to total sales exceeding $1 billion in 2025. Our core strategies include:
1. Launching a $30-$50 million Series B round in 2021. We expect that raising funds in this current offering and completing the associated milestones will put us in a strong position for our B round. Our sales margins and other income streams should make us profitable by the middle of 2023. This would set us up well for an IPO in 2024.
2. Pursuing non-exclusive licensing agreements. We should sell more Wind Harvesterssooner by sharing 20-30% of the sales margin with licensees who help sell our turbines and construction and development companies experienced in large projects.
3. Once our projects have operated for a year or so, we should be able to borrow against their revenue streams to leverage and capitalize on more projects starting in 2023. By then, traditional lenders should finance projects that use our Wind Harvesters.
4. We plan to float a $150+ million Initial Public Offering (IPO) and create liquidity for our shareholders in 2024. That new capital would allow us to leverage project loans and own another $500+ million in projects that buy our turbines in 2024 and 2025.
5. We will actively support the science and engineering needed to open new markets by proving that our Wind Harvester turbines can operate:
· adjacent to telecommunication and radio towers
· to create flexible power in hybrid wind, solar, and storage projects and micro-grids
6. We will invest in developing and patenting larger H-type turbines that can capture more of the energy in these
intensely windy but geographically limited areas. We intend to be the leader in near-ground turbine engineering and
placement modeling.
Competition Our success should stimulate a "gold rush" of competition. The GEs and Vestas of the world won't let us have this considerable market to ourselves. But any competitor will have to master the same prototyping, field-testing, and aeroelastic modeling steps we have already gone through. Each of these takes substantial time and expertise.
Any reputable company in the
near-ground wind space is likely to become an acquisition target once we prove that the wakes from understory turbines won't cause harm to tall turbines. Wind Harvest should be sought after because our:
- Wind Harvesters will have passed through the steps of a full scale prototype, a pilot project and certification, which precedes sales.
- Pending patents and existing intellectual property are difficult to work around
- Validated aeroelastic model and team of accomplished engineers
- Projects in development such as Simpson Ridge, Wyoming.
Our goal is to stay independent with the help of new capital from the Series B round and with new executives who have experience in IPOs and large projects.
The Team: We have the team needed to complete the engineering, certification and manufacturing of our first turbines. We have the partners needed to develop our first projects. We will bring in new executives in the Series B round who have experience in IPOs and developing $100 million projects. We have the commitment to make this happen as is evident by the years we've put into it and the personal investments we have made.