k Power, a manufacturer of low-altitude, tethered wind power systems, has named Michael Breen as chief executive officer and chairman of the board. Breen, an energy finance veteran, is tasked with moving the company out of the lab and into commercialization. k Power has been a member of The University of Texas Clean Energy Incubator since 2008 and is currently in the demonstration phase of its Wind Power Capture (WPC) system.
"Low-altitude wind is poised to be the next growth sector in renewable energy," said Michael Breen, CEO of k Power. "Led by a world-class technical team, we've created a system capable of capturing winds up to 75 percent more consistent than those targeted by the turbines. That market -- which occurs at low altitudes -- opens up close to one-third of the U.S. to the highest class of wind power."
Previously, Breen co-founded Xtreme Power, a Kyle, TX-based energy storage company with grid-scale deployments, in 2004 and remains on the company's board. Before co-founding Xtreme Power, Breen was an investment banker and operational consultant. He graduated with a B.S. in Computer Science from the University of Notre Dame and received his MBA from The University of Texas at Austin.
"We've achieved significant technical milestones with WPC, so the time was right to bring an experienced veteran like Michael on board who can commercialize what we've spent years developing," said Craig Varrichio, k Power president and co-founder. "After working behind the scenes for months, Michael has already shown the strategic insight necessary to take us to the next level."
About k Power:k Power manufactures utility-scale wind power systems designed to cost-effectively capture high-speed winds between 700 to 1200 feet. Our proprietary, patent-pending technology, Wind Power Capture (WPC), combines low-altitude, tethered airfoils with mature, off-the-shelf components that allow for rapid, capital efficient deployment. Founded in 2007, k Power is based in Austin, Texas.
