I’ve received a portion of Intertek’s 2016 power performance test of Ogin’s Model 2.2 150-kW ducted wind turbine “over the transom” as we say. The much hyped and controversial device delivered its rated power in the test.
FloDesign-Ogin
Flamboyant ducted wind turbine venture Ogin died a costly death in 2017, taking with it hundreds of millions in investments. The debacle tarnished the reputations of Technology Review, Arpa (DOE’s Advanced Research Projects Agency), Vice President Al Gore, and venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins all of whom had helped hype the “revolutionary” design.
Yep, it’s still there. Derelict and long abandoned, the FloDesign-Ogin prototype ducted wind turbine is still standing in the Antelope Valley between I-5 and Lancaster and north of Hwy 138.
While poking around on the Internet to see if anything new had popped up on some of my favorite ducted turbine projects I came across some videos of FloDesign-Ogin that I hadn’t seen before.
Ogin raised more than $150 million in funding — even attracting the attention of former Vice President Al Gore, now a senior partner at Kleiner Perkins Caufield Byers, one of the company’s earliest backers. Late last month, the company entered receivership, and its assets are up for sale.
Among all those who lost money in the FloDesign-Ogin fiasco is the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Compared to others the state lost a relatively modest amount of $3 million.
New Zealand’s Superannuation Fund has written down its $47.5 million (NZ) investment in ducted turbine promoter Ogin.
In June 2016 the Ogin Board of Directors and management mutually agreed to separate. At that point we wrote the Fund’s NZ$47.5 million investment down to nil, and that was included in our annual accounts.”
FloDesign’s prototype ducted wind turbine on Deer Island in Boston Harbor is being removed, according the agency that operates the nearby sewage treatment plant.
Former employees of the erstwhile ducted turbine manufacturer Ogin have posted comments about their jobs on a public web site.
