Vestas launches standalone blade maintenance company

Vestas claims BladeRobots will perform blade maintenance up to four times faster than conventional manual methods and can improve wind turbines’ annual energy production by restoring their aerodynamic performances and reducing turbine downtime. It will use artificial intelligence (AI) to adapt to all blade types in the industry.

BladeRobots has secured a first round of funding from Skagen Blade Technology, a Danish wind turbine service provider that becomes the minority shareholder. Vestas Ventures, the corporate venture capital arm of Vestas established in late 2020, will have a majority ownership share of the company.

BladeRobots will be headed by Michael Thorup Svensson, CEO of service provider, Ventus Wind Services. Johnny Thomsen, former Co-CEO of MHI Vestas Offshore Wind, will serve as chairman.

Although the “novel robot solution” was originally founded and developed inside Vestas, the firm has decided to make BladeRobots its own company in order to accelerate its time to market and to build scale, the OEM said.