Latvian Aerones raises $62M to advance robotic wind turbine maintenance

Latvian tech company Aerones has raised $62 million to deploy AI-based robotic solutions for wind turbine maintenance globally, aiming to cut costs and carbon emissions, according to the company’s Linkedin post. AIN shares more details about the deal below.

About Aerones

• The wind energy industry faces increasing pressure to reduce costs and improve operational efficiency as it expands. 

• Aerones, founded in 2018 in Riga, has the potential to transform the sector, making wind energy more affordable and dependable. Its robots leverage AI-driven software to carry out wind turbine blade maintenance and repairs much faster than human workers. 

• Since 2020, Aerones has produced nearly 400,000 MWh of clean electricity and prevented approximately 165,000 tonnes of carbon emissions. Its portfolio includes collaborations with GE, Vestas, Siemens Gamesa, and Enel.

“The industry is scaling really fast and maintenance is tough. The wind turbine downtime costs more than the labour itself and that bottleneck is driving up the cost of renewable energy. We don’t wait until the blade is already on the ground but work out how to prevent that blade from falling to the ground,” Aerones co-founder and CEO Dainis Kruze said.

Investment details

Fresh funding round was led by U.S. investors Activate Capital and S2G Investments. In 2023, Aerones was also backed by a 4 million euro grant from the EU Innovation Fund and an additional 30 million euro funding round.

The investment will help Aerones to extend its operations and deploy its solutions across more than 30 countries, significantly reducing turbine downtime and boosting energy efficiency.