Wind turbine blade monitoring startup Fibersail has raised a €5m investment round led by FORWARD.one, a Dutch deep tech VC.
Rockstart, Innoenergy, Caixa Capital were also involved, along with former LM Wind Power chief executive Marc de Jong, who is stepping in as a member of the board.
With this investment round and by partnering with leading turbine manufacturers and operators, Fibersail is focused on scaling the team and its customer pipeline.
Wind energy is one of the most cost-efficient power sources worldwide, but even with a record breaking number of installations each year reaching over 743GW of capacity in 2022, the world needs to triple the speed of installations to attain its carbon neutral goals over the next decade.
To achieve this, new turbines with blades exceeding 100 metres in length, are being developed and tested.
However, current blade monitoring solutions lack accuracy and are not prepared for tip displacements reaching more than 20 metres, Fibersail said.
By using their proprietary shape sensing technology, Fibersail, unlike current solutions, is focused on the shape of the blade rather than root strain, enabling manufacturers and operators to design and operate better performing wind turbines.
The Fibersail technology enables this by precisely controlling and monitoring the behaviour of their blades, empowering in this way the EU vision to become climate neutral and energy independent.
Fibersail co-founder and chief executive Pedro Pinto (pictured: right) said: “With a passion for wind energy and background in high performance sailing, my entire life was spent on understanding how to generate the best energy performance by using wind power.
“During the first years of Fibersail, I was amazed with the lack of information regarding the conditions and operations of wind turbine blades and the multi-billion euro cost it was generating every year.
“Now, together with our strong team of deep and greentech investors, we are disrupting the way these wind turbines are controlled and maintained.”
Fellow co-founder and chief commercial officer Carlos Oliveira (pictured: left) added: “My passion for renewable energies has always guided my contribution towards a cleaner, more sustainable, and better world.
“I have spent the last ten years optimizing the way we harness energy from the wind and I know first-hand how little is known about these ever-bigger composite structures.
“The potential this technology brings to the industry made me step in.
“Initially as an investor, and now as co-founder of the company, this was a challenge I felt the need to embrace.
“I truly believe that together with our strong investors and industry-leading partners, the Fibersail solution will fundamentally change the way in which wind turbines are controlled and the performance is optimized.”
FORWARD.one partner Arie Göbel said: “We are extremely excited to join the Fibersail team on their journey to disrupt the wind turbine industry.
“Fibersail has the unique ability to accurately monitor deformation along the full length of wind turbine blades, in-situ and in real-time.
“We are convinced that this ability will have a profound and lasting impact on the ways in which wind turbines are designed and operated.”