The National Science Foundation just awarded Accelerate Wind LLC of St. Louis a $1-million Phase II SBIR grant to develop a low cost wind energy system for broad commercial roll-out.
The company was also selected for the U.S. Department of Energy, National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Distributed Wind Competitiveness Improvement Project. The CIP grant funds a 2 year project for pre-production prototype development. Accelerate Wind is one of eight awardees that will share $2.2M in DOE funding and leverage about $1.3M of industry cost share.
The SBIR grant is for improving cost-efficiency and power potential with a roof-edge wind capture technology (vertical axis wind turbine) and to develop a commercial product that is code compliant, aesthetically pleasing, easy to install and commercially scale-able as well as reliable and properly certified. The grant lays out a commercialization strategy that relies on appealing to existing solar system installers by adding an easy to install wind collection system to their renewable energy product offerings.
Accelerate Wind LLC launched in May 2016. The company filed for a patent in 2018 for a multi-bladed rotor connected to a continuously variable transmission, a flywheel and a generator. CEO Erika Boeing did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The startup is headquartered in the T-Rex building, downtown St. Louis.
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