Friday, October 10, 2008

Second Wind sweeps up $500K Renewable Energy Trust loan

By Mass High Tech Staff

Wind tracking technology maker Second Wind Inc. has landed a loan from the Renewable Energy Trust worth $500,000, which the Somerville-based company says will be used for working capital.
 
Specifically the loan will help Second Wind with further development and production of the Triton Sonic Wind Profiler, its new tool for assessing wind using “sodar,” or sound detection and ranging, according to officials. The company says the Triton can gather accurate readings up to 200 meters, in any weather, at any location, without being attended.

The loan was awarded through the trust’s Business Expansion Initiative, which supports Bay State-based renewable energy companies entering or expanding within the manufacturing stage of commercial development. According to Second Wind president Walter Sass, the Triton is manufactured in Somerville.

Second Wind was founded by Sass and Kenneth Cohn. The 40-person company’s wind-pattern monitoring software and related technologies are installed in approximately 15 percent of all turbines worldwide, or 6,000 units, according to executives.

The company secured $4 million in a second round financing in December of 2007. The funding came from previous investor Good Energies, a global investor in the renewable energy and energy efficiency industries. Good Energies has offices in New York and Washington D.C., as well as in Canada, Switzerland and the United Kingdom.