Bolstered by concerns that existing wind energy technology isn't sufficient to meet renewable energy needs, two Ann Arbor startup companies are developing new solutions that could turn wind into a dramatically more viable energy option.One of the firms,

Accio Energy

, is developing a stationary "aerovoltaic" device that would be installed on rooftops, harvest wind and turn it into electricity - without the moving parts associated with wind turbines. Put simply, it would resemble a wind version of a solar panel.

"Who would have thought that there's another way to capture wind energy?" said David Carmein, Accio's research director and chief scientific mind behind the technology. "If you look at the wind market, the technology of how you take wind energy and capture it hasn't changed for over 700 years."

The second startup company, WindSight, is a spinoff of Ann Arbor-based Michigan Aerospace, an engineering firm that has gradually diversified its technology portfolio in recent years. WindSight, led by Michigan Aerospace CEO Peter Tchoryk, is set to commercialize a wind-farm site assessment technology solution.

Together the two companies, albeit officially unrelated, underscore the Ann Arbor region's budding wind energy technology arsenal.

Accio President Dawn White, who founded successful Ann Arbor defense tech startup Solidica, said Accio aims to create a wind energy device that would generate double the electricity per square meter of traditional photovoltaic solar panels.

White said the device could ultimately present a way to harvest wind energy in locations where wind turbines aren't practical.

"Small wind turbines are very expensive for the amount of power you get out of them," White said. "There's a real need for a mid-scale wind solution."

Accio (pronounced AXE-EE-OH), officially formed about a year ago, has received angel investment but wouldn't discuss specifics. The firm recently a $97,000 grant from the National Science Foundation and a $401,500 competitive funding award from the Michigan Public Service Commission.

WindSight, meanwhile, is in the midst of raising funds, but Michigan Aerospace CEO Peter Tchoryk said the firm expects to have its system in beta testing by this summer. WindSight's customers would be wind farm developers seeking site analysis tools and ways to optimize turbine performance.

"If you're a developer, you have to be really sure that the land you're going to buy and develop and put these hugely expensive turbines on is going to generate the energy that you anticipate," Tchoryk said. "That's really where we shine. We have a transformational product in that it's going to provide so much more information than is currently available."

Conference details

2009 Michigan Wind Energy Conference

• Organizer: Great Lakes Renewable Energy Association.

• Expected attendees: 1,000.

• Speakers include: Jim Walker; president of the American Wind Energy Association; Skip Pruss, director of Michigan's Department of Energy, Labor and Economic Growth; Keith Cooley, CEO of Detroit-based NextEnergy; Dawn White, president of Ann Arbor-based Accio Energy; Peter Tchoryk, CEO of Michigan Aerospace and leader of WindSight

• Location: Cobo Hall.

• Registration: www.glrea.org.

In the energy field, wind turbines have long been considered static technology. But Jennifer Alvarado, executive director of Dimondale-based Great Lakes Renewable Energy Association, said that conception is misguided. GLREA is hosting the 2009 Michigan Wind Energy Conference from March 3-4 in Detroit in partnership with the U.S. Department of Energy, the Michigan Economic Development Corp., Detroit-based NextEnergy and other groups.

"There are lots of opportunities right now to achieve higher efficiency in wind generation for electricity," Alvarado said. "Innovation is key."

New wind technology

Accio officials, meanwhile, are remaining purposely secret about the specifics of their technology because of concerns about intellectual property rights. They said the original basics of the technology were invented decades ago, though it was not proven as a product and the IP has expired. They're trying to leverage new technological advances to commercialize the original technology.

Accio officials declined to discuss details but said the device would be modular - meaning you could add capacity based on the size of the structure you're using to host the technology.

Among the benefits of this aspect of the technology is that it provides for 80 percent "parts commonality" among the various versions of the Accio device, White said. That is, manufacturing operations wouldn't have to create many different processes to produce the devices.

That's one of the biggest problems with wind turbines. Different sized wind turbines require different sized parts, thus requiring completely different machinery to produce those parts.

White suggested that Accio's product could eventually be assembled in large scales at repurposed Michigan manufacturing operations.

"Our product is going to be made from components that you can make in plants with machines that are already sitting there," White said.

The inefficiency of traditional wind turbines is boosting WindSight, which has developed a laser-based system designed to improve wind farm site assessment.

Wind site assessment is quickly turning into a major market as utilities throughout the country seek to meet renewable portfolio standards. Michigan's RPS requires utilities to derive 10 percent of their electricity from renewable sources by 2015.

Tchoryk said WindSight is developing predictive analytics programs to project problems with wind turbines, deliver performance expectations and forecast optimal wind output at prospective wind farms. Michigan Aerospace's atmospheric measurement technology advancements - to be commercialized through WindSight - can be applied to the wind industry.

"It will measure wind speed and direction, temperature density and it also has the capacity to do water vapor as well, and it will do this at long ranges. We can map out many kilometers ahead of the wind farm and be able to completely map out the atmosphere," Tchoryk said.

"We can then forecast when the winds will actually arrive at the turbines, and that's very important for increasing efficiency and maintenance and for improving switching times."

Tchoryk said Windsight would offer a packaged solution - a laser-based sensor to make measurements and "computational fluid dynamics" software to analyze the results.

Boosting the economy

Tchoryk wouldn't discuss specifics of where WindSight would locate its headquarters. He also declined to discuss Michigan Aerospace's previously announced decision to locate an expansion unrelated to WindSight in the Battle Creek area.

For WindSight, the firm is likely still at least a year or two away from making products, if not more. Accio officially only has three employees right now, but the firm is working with experts at the University of Michigan, George Washington University and Purdue University to advance the technology.

But Jeffrey Basch, general manager of Accio, said Accio is aiming to reach production stages as soon as possible.

"We really want to make a product," he said.

Contact Nathan Bomey at (734) 302-1725 or nathanb@mbusinessreview.com.