SeaHorse Power
Little know fact that BigBelly Solar was my Plan B…
In 2003, I set out to start a company called Seahorse Power Company while finishing business school. The market wasn’t ready, so I took on a less ambitious project: the BigBelly.
Horsepower from the sea
My original and still favorite business plan in 2003, but I quickly realized that the market wasn’t ready, so I started the company, refocused, and called it BigBelly (after the BigBelly Seahorse).
I love the power of nature, especially the wind and waves. As a lifelong sailor and surfer, I get it and love it offshore.
Yet, I felt (and still feel) that the technology is insufficient. Why use land-based technology offshore? I believe that an entirely different platform is needed.
This is more like it
Vertical axis wind turbines can sway; as Ani Difranco says, what doesn’t bend, breaks. Offshore, almost everything breaks. Horizontal axis turbines need to remain so stable, the infrastructure cost is too high. In many areas, VAWTs, buoys, scale in numbers over size, will work better. I’m curious about using “tuned metronome technique” and pneumatic storage. To me, it’s all about robustness and attention to COGS - so pay attention to cost per watt more than watts per square meter.