SkySpecs, an Ann Arbor-based provider of renewable energy operations and management solutions, today announced it has closed an $80 million strategic capital raise led by the sustainable investing business within Goldman Sachs Asset Management with additional participation from a subsidiary of NextEra Energy Resources and other existing investors.
Existing investors include investors include Statkraft Ventures, Equinor Ventures, Evergy Ventures, UL Ventures, and Huron River Ventures.
The new funding will help SkySpecs accelerate the expansion of their software offerings by leveraging their existing foundation of automated high quality data collection and analytics, as well as grow its geographic footprint to advance its mission to optimize renewable performance and help displace fossil fuel generation.
“Renewable energy is becoming a viable, attractive, and profitable energy source. In order to scale fast enough to meet the demand, the market needs experts and solutions to help them navigate the complexities of managing their assets,” says Danny Ellis, CEO of SkySpecs. “We help customers get the most out of the life of their assets by identifying solutions to their most complex problems.
“That’s why we’ve developed a solution set that enables companies to manage and optimize their assets from the planning phase right through the full asset lifecycle, including predicting future failures, and prioritizing repairs in order to optimize their maintenance budgets.”
SkySpecs entered the market providing a solution for renewable energy companies struggling to understand the health of their assets. By providing wind farms with valuable data on the health of their wind turbine blades through autonomous drone inspections, customers were finally able to access high quality data on assets in near real-time, and then analyze and synthesize it so they can make smarter decisions about their fleets from first day-of-operation to end-of-life.
It didn’t stop at providing blade data, continuing to expand its solutions offerings, stating the simplest path to industry-leading efficiency and returns is access to high quality data on all of the components that make up the wind asset.
SkySpecs applies a solutions-based approach across the renewable energy landscape, helping customers solve problems holding back renewable energy’s potential, such as understanding asset health, predicting failures, prioritizing repairs, and extending asset useful life.
SkySpecs leverages AI-based fault detection technology and diagnostic solutions to enable much earlier and more robust fault detection than other solutions so customers can maximize uptime and asset lifetime.
“There is a growing need amongst renewable asset owners to improve asset efficiency and better manage asset health, which is not being sufficiently addressed today and is further exacerbated by aging fleets and increasing complexity of portfolios” says Vikas Agrawal, managing director of Goldman Sachs Asset Management.
“SkySpecs has a leading market position providing high ROI preventative maintenance and software solutions to the world’s largest renewable asset owners, along with extensive data and know-how. We’re excited to invest in SkySpecs’ vision to accelerate the expansion of capabilities that will increase the performance and longevity of renewable resources, reduce operating costs, and simplify asset ownership.”
