Windy critics
turbine developments. The most notable was the New Zealandbased Vortec that collapsed in 2001 after chewing through $25m in funding. The NZSX-listed Windfarms New Zealand is not involved in turbine development and uses industry standard propeller generators at its 97-turbine farm in the Tararuas.
Manwell was troubled by Ogin’s lack of public progress since 2008, despite several fundraising rounds totalling more than US$100m.
Hefound the information vacuum unusual.
California-based wind energy analyst Paul Gipe, said the collapse of Vortec raised the stakes. ‘‘The burden of proof becomes great because of all these failures.’’ He said the investment is a gamble. ‘‘That’s what venture capitalists do, they try to make a big bet. Your pension fund is betting, and this is a wild bet.’’
The criticisms are echoed by local wind consultant and PhD candidate Dougal McQueen.
‘‘Wind turbines are a mature technology and the designs have not changed substantially in 30 years,’’ he said. Prior failures showed the ducted model was ‘‘fundamentally flawed’’.
Ogin founder and aerospace scientist Michael Werle understood the scepticism, but said ‘‘we’ve taken all the lessons learned and brought in some new aeronautical and aerospace concepts.’’ Problems with the Vortec development had been closely studied and remedied.
Ogin chief financial officer Jantoon Reigersman said Ogin was finalising its commercial design and hoped to put more information into the public domain next year after gaining engineering certifications and commencing mass production.
Matt Whineray, NZSF general manager, said the US$55m investment – a mixture of debt and equity seeing the fund take a less than 20 per cent share alongside the likes of Goldman Sachs and the Alberta – followed nine months of due diligence. The fund was well-aware of risks of early stage companies, but believed this one worthwhile.
‘‘This is a small investment in the context of a $25 billion highly diversified fund,’’ he said.
‘‘We expect to be compensated for the risks we are undertaking.’’