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WNC Business

New Technology Developed in WNC Could Significantly Impact Clean Energy Providers

Sep 17, 2024 09:03AM ● By Randee Brown

While designs of motors and generators have remained largely the same since the mid-1800s, a local inventor and entrepreneur duo, Dr. Tony Iacovelli and Michael Shore, created a startup business while working to patent technology that has the potential to revolutionize the clean energy industry.

While installing a wind turbine on his farm in Leicester in 2014, Iacovelli contemplated how these turbines are efficient in a very narrow window of wind speed, despite wind speed being highly variable. He developed an innovative technology that would instead enable a wind turbine to more efficiently harvest energy across a wider range of wind speeds. Reviewing the concept for several years, he partnered with Asheville clean energy entrepreneur Shore to create NextPower 360 in 2022.

Generators inside hydrological dams or coal-fired power plants receive steady input streams to produce energy. These generators are very efficient inside of a steady stream, and so far, generators in wind turbines have operated in the same way. This means periods of low or high winds often leave a huge reservoir of untapped energy potential behind, and the technology developed by NextPower 360 creates the ability to capture energy during those times.

Using the same materials as conventional generators, internal magnets were reconfigured to create stronger magnetic fields and induce more current. This new technology is currently being developed for wind turbines, and can also apply to electric vehicles and potentially to other applications of motors and generators. 

Currently in the research and development phase, Iacovelli’s concepts are already impressing investors and industry leaders. Local angel investors have helped the company raise money to develop dozens of prototypes to optimize the design, and the goal is to continue fundraising to hire more technicians and an engineer and move into a more sophisticated lab space. While troubleshooting challenges to create the final design, they are executing an aggressive patent strategy.

“Everyone who we engage in conversations about the technology is very impressed,” Shore said. “We are building the prototypes as well as computer models so we can test some of the things through computer simulations, so it’s all a slow process, but everybody’s rooting for us and excited to see what we come up with.”

Having had conversations with leaders at General Electric, Siemens, and others in the clean energy ecosystem, Iacovelli and Shore understand that there is currently a large amount of development in the wind industry. Wind and solar energy production used to be significantly more expensive than other energy sources, but that is no longer the case.

“In the last 15 years, the energy sector has been flipped on its head,” Shore said. “Nobody in the United States is building new coal plants. Now, wind and solar are the most cost-effective, and natural gas is close to those. Nuclear is significantly more costly than the other three, so we have a tremendous alignment on what is good for climate change also being good for economics.”

This new technology offers generators comprising many fewer parts, leading to less maintenance for wind turbines. It has the potential to increase energy output from a wind farm by 20% while also reducing maintenance costs by 20%, which offers compelling bottom-line benefits for producers.

An additional benefit for increased efficiency and cost-effectiveness is the ability to bring turbines closer to where the electricity demand is. Currently, turbines are located in the windiest places in the United States, but if producers can place turbines nearer to cities, the expense of infrastructure, transmission, and other associated costs within wind farm development could be reduced.

Headquartered in Asheville, Shore said WNC is an area that is extremely supportive of these types of startup companies, and host to an incredible community of employees. In the coming months, decisions will need to be made on where and how to make and assemble these generators, and the company also understands the region is great for manufacturing.

“We have a very committed and capable workforce that we are able to tap into here,” Shore said. “It’s a profound innovation that could lead to a huge technology revolution. The group of people helping to make this company happen is a great foundation for us, and a community that is supportive of the work we are doing makes a big difference.”