An investment group, CB Wind Acquisition, made the successful bid of $12.9 million in June to separate Northern Power from its former parent company, Distributed Energy Systems of Wallingford, Connecticut. "We came out of Chapter 11 with the first set of individual investors who basically bought the company and gave us some working capital," says Northern Power's Maureen McCracken. "That was followed within a few months by this larger round of much more significant working capital. That really is what we needed to get moving on our plans for the future."
The firm will use much of the cash to buy components for its 100 kW turbine, which is offered on a six-month delivery schedule. Glass fibre product company Knight & Carver Wind Group is to build several preliminary sets of ten-metre wind blades for the Northwind units. "We believe we can continue to improve on that by being able to look a little more forward than just the next order that's coming in," says McCracken. "We're seeing other regional markets starting to open up. We're seeing some interest in Texas and California, along with Italy and the UK and Ireland."
Northern Power, which specialises in cold climate wind turbine technology, has sold nearly 40 of the smaller machines, primarily in Alaska and Malaysia. "Things are about to change but we expect to keep the Northwind 100 going strong," says McCracken. "We'll be staying by the roots of our organisation."
