METSTRADE startup Flag Turbines says new tech will empower daring sailors

This year, METSTRADE and Yachting Ventures are teaming up to introduce the new Start-Up Pavilion – a platform for emerging startups to showcase their latest products and technologies.

Flag Turbines is one of the 15 startups on show in the METSTRADE pavilion and is building a new type of wind turbine using BLOwN technology, which adjusts the blades to the best angle in the wind and gives them the highest lift forces.

Flag Turbine’s Maarten van Oeveren discusses the challenges, pitfalls and need for brave new technology in the leisure marine field.

How do you stand out in the marketplace?

“Flag turbines are nice wind power generators. They are easy to install on their self-stable base, silent in operation and the slow turning blades are decorative. The turbine is technically unique in its focus to high torque, rather than high speed. To generate power you need both of them, but of these two, torque is invisible and without sound. Speed in contrast produces vibrations, noise and is visually distorting. On top of that, there is no threshold on a torque-operating turbine. As soon as there is torque to accelerate, there is also regenerative brake force from the generator.”

What has been the biggest lesson since you started the business?

“As technicians, we love to develop cutting-edge technology. Our biggest lesson was that we had to switch from hardcore data analysis towards emphatic problem solving for our customer. What’s the customer’s profile, who is the person behind the customer, where is he going, what are his main concerns and how does our customer want to contribute? Not the market size numbers, targeted market share and ambitious sales expectations, but the personal profiling of our ideal customer led us to the METSTRADE Start-Up Pavillion. Something completely different than hardcore data analysis and technical problem solving.

How is the technology being used by customers today?

“Ocean sailors have our product either permanently installed as an additional type of power source, or packed in an emergency case to take with them if they need to board a liferaft. In case of a failing generator, or polluted fuel, you still have the wind turbine to power critical navigation and communication devices – at least enabling you to communicate your status and location. Jump in a liferaft with this 15kg case and one can build your own power system. Use the case then as a mounting surface, or couple two cases to build a floating power generator.”

We pitched our technology to the market and were advised by several industry players about the dire situation of floating around without power. The advice was to develop a backup emergency power solution, based on wind, easy to carry and to install.

Flag Turbine’s Maarten van Oeveren

We developed it for two scenarios:

• Liferaft power for communication and navigation equipment
• Yacht critical power backup

What else (if anything) needs to be in place to make your product more successful?

“We developed the Light Speed – C flag turbine with the control system, and bought the case and power banks. Customers need to bring their own communication devices, e.g. IsatPhone, Starlink devices. Eventually, this can be further enhanced with a global web-based communication platform. Today satellite beacons just send a radio signal. Tracing down the signal leads to the location of the beacon. But no further information is attached. It would be better to have a standardised data protocol, including date and time of first SOS signal, embarkation roll, fields to include victim list, to enable triage ASAP for SAR units.”

How does this technology help change the marine landscape?

“Customers will be able to enjoy more freedom and take on whatever adventures they choose. And by being adventurous we discover and invent things. We should dare, step forward and take risks. But if we fail, or if circumstances are harsher than expected, then we should be able to get back to safety. The light speed encourages our most precious kind of people to step forward, but also to get them back. The boating industry should strive to be daring and progressive. Let us show how power should be and let us initiate and boost the transition to a sustainable future on our planet.”

Yachting Ventures (YV) is the world’s first startup hub for the leisure marine and yachting industries. It aims to provide the network, support and opportunities that startups in this space need to succeed. The YV team has now worked with over 250 startups in 25+ countries and the portfolio companies have collectively raised over £30 million in funding.