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With the rising concerns about global warming, finding alternatives to fossil fuel power sources has become vital. The two main sources of green energy are solar panels and wind turbines. While these green energy sources have made significant progress in improving how the world accesses energy, they still have some major flaws. Solar panels and wind turbines require a lot of space to generate enough power, and they can be very expensive to install and maintain. One company believes there is a better solution that is cost-effective, takes up virtually no ground space, and can even provide energy to remote and offshore locations.

In 2006, while a student at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Rob Creighton came up with ideas for developing clean technology systems and founded the company Windlift. At first, the company was just a way for him to file patents, but when he graduated in 2008, he secured $100,000 in funding to bring his patents to life. Rob moved the operation to Morrisville, North Carolina, an area known as a drone technology incubator hub, commonly referred to as the Research Triangle.

It was the perfect place for Rob to begin building and testing his vision of a drone that could replace large, expensive wind turbines. “The problem with wind energy is you build this giant structure to get this turbine blade far enough off the ground to catch wind, because the amount of wind you get is proportional to how high you are,” Rob said. “If there’s a building or a hill or a mountain, wind flows over it, and then becomes turbulence. And turbulence is rolling air. So it’s very chaotic. The key with wind energy is to get above that boundary layer to have enough clean air, what’s called laminar flow. Above that layer, the winds are very steady. It’s very clean.”

After experimenting with different prototypes, Rob came up with an innovative drone design in 2019. At the same time, he secured an indefinite delivery and quantity contract with the United States Department of Defense for $30 million. With this new round of funding, Windlift began testing the drone system at the Butner Beef Field Laboratory at North Carolina State University and the Kinston Regional Jetport. The body of the drone is made of resilient yet lightweight carbon fiber materials. The VTOL (Vertical Take-Off and Landing) drone, which Windlift calls “Frank” (as in Frankenstein), weighs a total of 25-30 lbs.

A pair of propellers on the drone’s wings act as tiny windmills, pulling and pushing air to generate power as the drone autonomously flies along a perpetual figure-eight flight path 400 ft in the air. The drone is attached to a tether that powers the drone while simultaneously gathering the energy being drawn in by the propellers. The tether then feeds the energy into a stationary or floating portable base station. The base station transfers the energy to an end user. According to Windlift, each drone can generate up to 15 kilowatts per unit, is operable in any type of weather, takes less than 30 minutes to set up, and can be used for 5 years before needing any maintenance.

While Windlift’s drone may not generate as much energy as a single wind turbine, it does solve the problems of excessive costs, space requirements, and constant upkeep. Moreover, the drone system is highly portable, making it ideal for providing power to remote and offshore locations. The drone could also be useful in emergency situations when power has been disrupted by a natural disaster. However, as Rob points out, as they continue testing the drone, he and his team are finding endless applicable possibilities for it.

Ultimately, Windlift’s drone has made Rob more confident about the future in the face of what he views as one of the greatest threats to Earth: climate change. “Climate change is going to fundamentally change the places that I love,” Rob said. “I thought, let’s build a company around this.” Windlift’s innovative drone technology represents a promising step forward in the pursuit of sustainable and efficient energy solutions. By addressing the key challenges of space and cost associated with traditional wind turbines, this new approach has the potential to revolutionize how we generate and distribute power.

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