Wind Harvest International, a California-based company that is building a novel type of short, utility-scale turbine, announced they have raised $379,000, as of this morning, during the first two weeks of their Crowdfunding campaign on the SEC-approved platform Netcapital.com.

In 2020-2023, the company raised over $2.5 million in RegCF offerings. This capital was used to make, install, and test the prototype Wind Harvester™ 3.1, a vertical axis wind turbine (VAWT).  The turbine completed Technology Readiness Level 7 (of 9) at the UL Advanced Wind Turbine Testing Facility in 2022-23.

“Completing TRL 7 led Wind Harvest’s engineering team to finish designing the final commercial turbine which is now fully ready to complete TRL 8 - third-party certification,” stated the Company’s principal engineer Dr. Ola Ajala. “In the process, we came up with seven new patents being processed, one of which - the arm blade hinge - has recently been granted.” 

Wind Harvest’s turbines capture turbulent mid-level wind (60-120’ above the ground) that traditional horizontal axis wind turbines (HAWT) do not use. Using UL Windnavigator wind speed data, Wind Harvest produced maps and a report that shows the potential to add 15,000 MWs worth (or 200,000 total) of short VAWTs the size of Wind Harvesters in and around existing turbines in California’s wind resource areas. 

Above is an example of Wind Harvester Vertical-Axis Wind Turbines sitting below traditional Horizontal-Axis Wind Turbines

“The cost to make, install, and test a pair of Wind Harvester 4.0s near the existing model 3.1 is under $1,000,000,” said Kevin Wolf, CEO and co-founder of Wind Harvest. “It is great to be so close to fully commercializing our turbines knowing that the general public can invest in our efforts through the Netcapital offering.”

“Our turbines are fully ready for certification. Our computer models have been validated. We have already started ordering the long lead time parts,” stated Ajala. “Methodically going through the Technology Readiness Level process has been a key to our success.”

Wind Harvest International | www.windharvest.com