“Optimal twist”
Like most startup companies, Atrevida started with a problem.
Industrial wind turbine blades need to be enormous to be cost-effective – an outcome of the physics of their design.
But Atrevida president and CEO Claudia Maldonado believes that her company’s technology could change that dynamic. Licensed from research out of the University at Buffalo, Atrevida is developing a turbine that adjusts to the optimal configuration based on wind direction.
The result is a more efficient product which is also considerably lighter, easing the tremendous infrastructure hurdles that attend development of offshore wind farms.
“Our blade has the ability to achieve optimal twist based on wind conditions, and in doing so it produces more energy without the loads that require these huge towers and platforms, and all the maintenance issues that come along with it,” Maldonado said.
Atrevida remains a long-term goal, as the company must secure investors and industrial partners to prove the technology works in the real world. But the company is making significant progress, now working off a $100,000 second phase Air Force Small Business Technology Transfer grant. Atrevida was recently a finalist in the 2020 Northeast Cleantech Open competition, a finalist in UB’s Panasci competition and belongs to the Launch NY ECO Incubator.
Maldonado said it will be several years before the technology is fully commercialized, a reality of the wind industry. That may seem like a lifetime, but Buffalonians are starting to learn how a startup with a slower timeline can reap vast rewards: Biotech firm Athenex took nearly two decades to go public and is now a sprawling international operation with three local facilities.
Atrevida has done a significant amount of research and development work and software simulation, and it now seeks to test smaller prototypes in a wind tunnel. Industrial giant Siemens has shown interest and is a potential partner down the road.
Maldonado said a licensing deal with a corporation like that is the likeliest successful pathway, which will allow Atrevida to begin applying its technology to other markets.
“What usually happens with an OEM is they want to own the technology, so the likelihood is they would license it from us and we would move on to maybe onshore wind or the repowering market,” Maldonado said. “It’s a really great opportunity because it doesn’t just end with that one industry.”