How Arctura Gets More from Every Turn
At Arctura, we believe that a secure, sustainable, healthy, and accessible energy future is within reach, and that wind energy has a big role to play. But, with just 8.4% of our domestic grid energy coming from wind at the start of 2021, the price of wind energy must continue to drop in order to meet the DOE’s goal of 20% penetration by 2030 and 35% by 2050. That’s why our founder and CEO, Dr. Neal Fine, created Arctura (formerly known as Aquanis) in 2015. He knew that the best way to improve efficiencies and decrease costs for the wind industry was through new technological innovation.
Arctura is headquartered in South Kingstown, Rhode Island, with a second office in Morgantown, West Virginia. We are the only wind energy company developing visionary technologies that provide practical, cost-reducing solutions for both turbine manufacturers and wind farm operators.
To accomplish our mission, Dr. Fine assembled a team of technologists, including our CTO Dr. John Cooney, Principal Scientist Dr. Pascal Mickelson, Senior Mechanical Engineer Chris Szlatenyi, and Research Engineer Adam Janik. The team has a diverse background in wind energy, marine hydrodynamics, aerospace engineering, applied physics, and mechanical engineering. Together with our partners in industry, academia, and Government, we are leading the development of novel solutions that drive wind energy costs down and increase profits for our customers.
At Arctura, innovation is in our DNA. Our turbine blade lightning protection coating, ArcGuide™, is a prime example. Similar to the segmented diverter technology originally developed for the aviation industry, ArcGuide™ creates ionized channels in the air above the surface of the blade to safely transmit the lightning strike’s energy to ground. This new technology reduces the frequency of blade punctures and other more significant blade damage caused by lightning strikes. By using inexpensive raw materials and eliminating the need for precision manufacturing like other solutions, ArcGuide™ will have a significantly lower price point than products currently on the market.
Our team is also hard at work developing technology that will reduce the costs of future ultra-large wind turbines with rated powers of 20 MW and higher. With our active lift control systems, we’ve created new ways to mitigate unsteady aerodynamic loads (known as “fatigue loads”) caused by turbulence, wind shears, gusts and wake effects. These added controls will give turbine designers another tool to reduce fatigue loads before they have a chance to develop, allowing wind turbines to be built with less material and at a lower cost. One such active lift control technology, known as the Plasma Gurney Flap, is supported by an on-going ARPA-E funded research project in collaboration with the University of Texas at Dallas, Sandia National Laboratory, and TPI Composites, Inc.
Also in the technology pipeline is a novel power optimization software tool for both individual turbines and wind farms. For individual turbines, our control software combines real-time turbine operational data with proprietary algorithms. By continuously maximizing performance, we can increase annual energy production for existing wind farms by 3% or more. The software also could allow future wind farms to use less land, spacing the wind turbines closer together while realizing more significant savings.
At Arctura, we love a challenge and we strive for excellence in everything we do. We’re persistent and unafraid to use technology and innovation to push the industry into the future. We’d love to talk to you about how Arctura’s high-quality technologies can help you reduce costs and improve the efficiency of your wind energy generation activities. Contact Arctura today to learn more about the exciting innovations our team is bringing to the wind industry and to share your experience in the industry with us. We’d love to hear from you!
