What key problem is Hyper Wind solving for OEMs and wind farm developers, and why is it particularly relevant for regions like the Mediterranean?
Hyper Wind engineers a solution with its patented Active Flow Control technology (AFC) which enables a lower levelized cost of energy (LCOE) by improving the aerodynamic efficiency of the turbine up to +15%. Indeed, OEMs and wind farm developers always face this recurring problem of cost of energy (energy production below expectations, inefficient usage of land/sea, CAPEX (“turbines, foundations) “and OPEX (“maintenance, failures”). Mediterranean Sea region has very deep sea levels, that means that building bottom fixed offshore wind farms is viable because the seabed is too deep. The only solution is represented by floating offshore architecture, but it’s expensive and the economy of scales for that type of installation is not reached yet. Additionally, the Mediterranean Sea experiences lower average wind speed than Northern Sea, which means that bigger rotors are needed to capture an equivalent amount of energy. Current large turbines are designed for high wind levels, and are not cost efficient for being deployed in lower wind areas. These two factors combined represent a big hinder for the sector. Hyper Wind can improve tremendously the efficiency of wind turbines by up to +15%, meaning they can generate more energy for same wind speed and diameter contributing directly to decrease LCOE. But it is not over, we can bring also cost saving to the blades which can be up to 30% slender and lighter. All combined, we believe we can bring down LCOE by 10% solely with our technology, contributing to the development of the sector and ultimately decreasing the cost of energy bills for citizens and companies.
Can you explain how your Active Flow Control (AFC) technology works, and how it boosts wind turbine efficiency by up to 15%?
With our international patented technology AFC, we create a high-speed layer of air on the surface of the blades, thus improving its performance and aerodynamics. It is a flexible customizable innovation which can be applied to all types of blades. We can work with any size of wind turbine blades and also, we can improve the design for making thicker blades enabling larger rotors. Load control is also improved thanks to our fast reaction, much faster than current pitch control.
How does your solution compare to other aerodynamic technologies in terms of performance and impact?
While some startups and R&D groups are exploring active flow technologies, they are way different from ours, and with many limitations. Some require moving parts on the blades (like active flaps) or electrical lines on the blades (like for plasma actuators) which are not well seen by industry. Furthermore, typically these other kinds of AFCS lack industrial scalability, have limited performance increase, or strong intellectual property. More in general, many startups work to reduce the cost of energy with technologies different than AFC. They are tackling one or two problems while Hyper Wind address many problems at once that contribute to LCOE. Hyper Wind enables to:
- Increase Energy production – Optimize Wind
- Farms – Reduce both CAPEX and OPEX.
What are the main benefits your customers can expect in terms of energy productivity, cost savings, and market competitiveness?
Our direct customers are the OEMs, which do not directly produce and sell energy, but certainly they obtain a better product on their portfolio, with a superior power coefficient, and strengthen their market position. In terms of benefit for their customers they can advertise a cost reduction of energy by 10% with our AFC technology.
How does Hyper Wind contribute to the climate transition and emissions reduction in the renewable energy sector?
Hyper Wind will contribute to the global decarbonation effort. We can estimate CO2 avoidance based on how much GW of Hyper Wind turbines we are going to install, and it is tightly linked to our market penetration scenarios. For 1 MW of wind power installed, we can expect about 3500 Tons of CO2 avoided, assuming an AEP of 4380 MWh (capacity factor 0.5) and a fossil fuel mix of about 0.8 CO2 tons / MWh. Thanks to Hyper Wind Technology, we can estimate additional 15% of power capacity, leading to 530,53 extra tons CO2 saved per year. Scaling up toto 1 GW power installed, we can expect more than 530.000 extra tons of CO2 avoided per year, and so on, whose will accumulate every year with new installation. Our market penetration scenarios indicate that if we could attain 30% market penetration by 2045, we could reach an astonishing level of 400 million tons CO2 avoided by solely the increment of energy output. To this we should add the other advantages linked to reduction of materials used in blade production and transportation.
What’s next for Hyper Wind? Are there specific markets, partnerships, or innovations you’re looking to expand into?
Hyper Wind has global ambitions. While we continue to develop partnerships and work closely with European OEM – Energy Producers, we are also expanding to China. We have been recognized as a Top 10 Innovative Startup in China’s International Forum of Zhongcuancun (the Chinese “Silicon Valley”) recently. Besides, we are going to attend several key networking events with leading startups and investors in Nanjing in September 2025. We have recently been awarded by the Samothrace Foundation in Sicily with a grant of 210.000€ for realizing the first experimental lab of wind energy in Sicily, and thanks to this grant we will acquire and start modifying our first wind turbine. We expect to have great preliminary results already by December 2025. We are also working on an add-on solution to existing wind turbine blades. It’s working on root region of the blades and has no impact on wind turbines dimensioning loads. We can expect +4% efficiency, lower than with a full new blade, but we expect this could have a great success on the market of already installed blades.
