Cleaning wind turbines with nets from Aerones robots $39M • TechCrunch

Aerones, a robotics startup that cleans and inspects wind turbines so humans don’t have to, secured $38.9 million in fresh funding this month from dozens of undisclosed investors, it has learned. TechCrunch.

Wind turbines produce clean energy, but their towers tend to leak oil, which can corrode the blades, increase wind resistance and pollute the ground below. Aerones’ remote-controlled robots clean the towers and blades by blasting them with liquid detergent, while funnels under the blades collect clogged liquid for reuse. The robots also inspect turbine systems with cameras and ultrasonic scanners.

The Aerones site says the company has cleaned more than 5,000 turbines to date in 19 countries. For context, there are over 72,000 wind turbines in the United States alone. In 2021, wind turbines produced about 9% of all electricity in the United States.

Backed by Y-Combinator and hailing from Latvia, Aerones aims to raise at least an additional $2.5 million, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The startup did not immediately respond to a request for more details on the round.

In April, Aerones invested $9 million in seed funding from French firm Future Positive Capital and Estonian firm Change Ventures. At the time, co-founder Dainis Kruze said the company was “growing its operations rapidly” and was already working with 9 of the top 10 companies in the industry, including GE.