ABB invests in wind-technology company

ABB, the global power and automation technology group, has announced that it has made a strategic investment in Pentalum Technologies, an Israel-based company developing advanced wind-sensing technology for control and optimisation of wind turbines and wind farms.

Pentalum is developing an innovative light detection and ranging (LIDAR) technology that remotely senses the wind vector in front of wind turbines in order to optimally align them to incoming wind flow. Pentalum’s system is also applicable to wind forecasting and site assessment, and is designed to significantly increase wind-farm efficiency at a lower cost per site than existing measurement technologies.

The investment was made through ABB Technology Ventures, ABB’s venture capital arm, which invests in early- and growth-stage companies with technologies of strategic importance to the industry segments the company serves. Other participants in funding for Pentalum included Cedar Fund, which led the round; and Evergreen Venture Partners, both from Israel; and Draper Fischer Jurvetson from the US.

"Cost and complexity issues are hampering the widespread adoption of optimisation systems for wind power,” said Girish Nadkarni, head of ABB Technology Ventures. "We have invested in Pentalum because we believe their technical approach will significantly improve profitability for developers and operators of this important renewable energy source.”

“Given ABB’s broad expertise and strong position with wind-turbine manufacturers and wind-farm developers and operators, they are a very strong partner for Pentalum,” said Sagie Tsadka, President and CEO of Pentalum. “Our wind-sensing technology can significantly improve the performance of wind turbines and wind farms, and ABB can be instrumental in helping us deliver this benefit to the marketplace through their extensive customer base.”

ABB provides a wide range of products, integrated solutions and expertise that enable the efficient generation of wind power and its smooth integration into the grid. Customers include turbine manufacturers, engineering contractors, independent power producers and utilities.

ABB is a leader in power and automation technologies that enable utility and industry customers to improve their performance while lowering environmental impact. The ABB Group of companies operates in around 100 countries and employs about 117,000 people.