Figure 1: SubSea RO Wind – technology to desalinate seawater into freshwater
The 21st century has been plagued by a slew of challenges; some of the biggest include water scarcity, energy storage, and low-cost clean electricity. Of the current world population, at least two billion people are faced with water scarcity, and one billion have no access to electricity. The global shift to renewable energy requires a cost-effective way to store energy at scale. The value of the energy market is expected to double to $18 trillion by 2050 from the $9 trillion it is today. Hydro Wind Energy is on a journey to transform the 21st century by providing solutions to these issues.
Hydro Wind Energy was created with a clear-cut path to solve the biggest challenges of the 21st century, that is, water scarcity, grid-scale energy storage, and low-cost clean electricity. The tech startup aims to accomplish this by harnessing offshore wind using vertical axis wind rotors and offshore-based kite systems. Hydro Wind Energy became the first and only company to develop a low-cost handheld seawater desalination device that they are currently commercialising. In 2019, the World Economic Forum selected the company as one of the top 100 startups shaping the Fourth Industrial Revolution.
Figure 2: OceanHydro Omni – power generation and energy storage (offshore wind)
Under the agreement with GEM, Hydro Wind Energy will receive a share subscription facility of EUR 50 million for a term of 36 months, concurrent to the public listing of Hydro Wind Energy shares on a European or American Stock Exchange. “Having GEM onboard is a huge foundational step in realizing our vision to play a major role in the global transition. Our technology is ultimately about structural design, systems integration, and automation rather than making quantum leaps in technology development. It’s, in essence, a simple technology with immense potential for impact in the shortest time possible. What we are doing is combining existing and proven technologies in a novel way to solve some very big challenges while simultaneously reducing costs,” said CEO and co-founder of Hydro Wind Energy, Lee King.
Figure 3: QuenchSea world’s only low cost handheld seawater desalination device
Technologies for power generation (OceanHydro Wind), water desalination (SubSea RO Wind), and scaling the portable seawater desalination device (QuenchSea) will be developed using the finances raised from GEM. Altitude ocean-based kites and vertical axis wind rotors power the OceanHydro Wind and SubSea RO Wind systems. Rather than converting wind directly to electricity, these technologies utilize wind for mechanical lift which harnesses the entire wind resource available. This technology allows for efficient power generation, storage and dispatch. It also opens up access to offshore wind in deep waters and provides ancillary services for grid resilience. The same technology reduces the cost of seawater desalination by 90%, which no other technology has achieved.
Hydro Wind Energy is currently building and testing a subscale system of both technologies in the United Arab Emirates with several offshore engineering firms and strategic partners. At the current pace, Hydro Wind Energy projects both scale prototypes will be completed by the end of 2022, and after that, full-scale commercialization is set for 2023. They expect annual revenues to hit the $300 million mark by 2025.
About Hydro Wind Energy
Based in San Francisco, London, and Dubai, Hydro Wind Energy, backed by Techstars, is a tech startup developing disruptive technologies to help solve three of the biggest challenges of the 21st century: low-cost clean electricity, grid-scale energy storage and water desalination at small and large scale.
About Global Emerging Markets (GEM)
Global Emerging Markets (GEM) is a $3.4 Billion alternative investment group with operations in Paris, New York and Los Angeles. GEM manages a diverse set of investment and has completed 400 transactions in 70 countries. Each investment vehicle has different sets of operational concepts of risk adjusted return and liquidity profile. The family of funds and investment vehicles provide GEM and its partners with exposure to: Small-Mid Cap Management Buyouts, Private Investments in Public Equities and select venture investments.
For more information: www.gemny.com
Media Contact
Company Name: Hydro Wind Energy
Contact Person: Mo Helmy
Email: Send Email
Country: United States
Website: https://www.hw.energy
