August 22, 2023, Berkeley, California – Windscape AI, Inc. has been awarded $275,000 from the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program to conduct research and development work on predicting imminent wind to maximize energy from wind farms.

The company places solar-powered barometric pressure sensors on the wind farm landscape, making an IoT connected array. Leveraging advanced AI and machine learning (ML), the team is using the data stream to develop new models that can recognize wind patterns instantly. The resulting SaaS product will alert existing automated controllers to position turbines for maximum energy and to protect from unnecessary wear.

“NSF accelerates the translation of emerging technologies into transformative new products and services,” said Erwin Gianchandani, NSF Assistant Director for Technology, Innovation and Partnerships. “We take great pride in funding deep-technology startups and small businesses that will shape science and engineering results into meaningful solutions for today and tomorrow.”

All proposals submitted to the NSF SBIR program undergo a rigorous merit-based review process. Once a small business completes a Phase I SBIR grant, it becomes eligible to apply for Phase II funding and additional supplements totaling up to $2 million.

Windscape AI’s Cofounder and CTO, Jason Yosinski, PhD, said, “Producing actionable data, such as wind predictions and wake detections, from pressure readings in the field is a non-trivial challenge, but the modeling results from our three wind farm test sites are very encouraging — we are headed in the right direction.”

Cofounder and CEO, Eric Thompson, noted, “At a time when wind industry developers are experiencing as much as 40% cost inflation, there is even greater need for an affordable SaaS product such as ours that can substantially increase global wind energy output and profit.”

About Windscape AI, Inc.

Windscape AI, Inc. solves the problem that today wind turbines can only react to wind changes and gusts AFTER they arrive, which causes them to miss opportunities to capture maximum energy and increases damage to equipment. Independent studies of the value of wind alerts in this sub-minute timeframe predict an average 2% increase in electricity produced, creating additional energy valued at well over $1B per year in current market conditions. Toward this goal, Windscape AI places small, solar-powered sensors around wind farms and uses machine learning (ML) and AI to produce imminent wind alerts delivered as a SaaS application. Wind farm owners will see increased revenue, uptime, and ROI. The company has patented the technology and has demonstrated proofs-of-concept via three pilot installations with potential customers. Currently at the seed stage of investment, Windscape AI targets a $5B market and aims to provide customers with 1000+% ROI. Cofounded by wind-industry veteran, CEO Eric Thompson and ML veteran, CTO Jason Yosinski, PhD, Windscape AI is based in Berkeley, California.

About the U.S. National Science Foundation's Small Business Programs

America’s Seed Fund powered by NSF awards more than $200 million annually to startups and small businesses, transforming scientific discovery into products and services with commercial and societal impact. Startups working across almost all areas of science and technology can receive up to $2 million to support R&D, helping de-risk technology for commercial success. America’s Seed Fund is congressionally mandated through the SBIR program. The NSF is an independent federal agency with a budget of about $9.5 billion that supports fundamental research and education across all fields of science and engineering. To learn more about how NSF helps unlock future technologies for national and societal impact, visit: https://beta.nsf.gov/tip/latest.