How one engineering alum optimizes clean energy operations before they break
When Aoife Henry isn't leading her energy optimization company, she enjoys trail running wherever she goes.
Aoife Henry (PhDElEngr‘24) is optimizing technology for wind and solar energy operations.
The doctoral graduate is leading , a startup she founded that addresses a critical challenge in the energy sector: how to prevent costly equipment failures that can bring wind and solar farms offline without warning.
Her solution uses machine learning to forecast when and how defects in wind turbine blades and solar panels will develop, notifying operators to plan repairs proactively rather than react to emergencies.
“We’re trying to model how defects like cracks on blades will develop and impact power output so operators can prepare proactively,” said Henry. “Spontaneous failures are incredibly expensive.”
The stakes are particularly high for offshore wind installations, where Henry sees the greatest market opportunity. Repairs cost approximately $250,000 per day, individual turbine blades run around $6 million and complete turbines cost about $20 million. For solar energy, they are maximizing theirthe maintenance of solar panels to limit how much time they spend offline. The less time panels are offline, the more power can be generated.
For operators managing these massive technologies, the ability to anticipate maintenance needs could translate to millions in savings while improving energy reliability.
Zentus currently offers two key capabilities: categorizing defects and assigning risk scores and forecasting how those defects will impact power generation. These tools will help engineering teams decide whether to repair, replace or simply monitor equipment within specific weather conditions.
Currently, Zentus is running three pilot programs, two in the United States and one in the United Kingdom. They aim to launch their product commercially later this year while actively fundraising to support continued development.
From Ҵýƽ to Silicon Valley
After participating in the Ascent Deep Tech Accelerator, a Ҵýƽ program that helps university researchers commercialize their technologies, Henry landed a fellowship with the Stanford Sustainability Accelerator at the Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability.
Launched in September 2024, the Stanford accelerator supports early-career scientists working to translate sustainability research into real-world impact. The program provides fellows with research and development funding.
Aoife Henry and her fiancé, Zach Schwartz, currently an ecology and evolutionary biology PhD candidate at Ҵýƽ.
“I had a great advisor, Professor Lucy Pao, who always kept an eye out for opportunities,” said Henry. “Ҵýƽ helped me build a strong application through programs like Venture Partners and the NSF I-Corps.”
After defending her dissertation, Henry drove straight to California and assembled a five-person team, including a Ҵýƽ master’s student she had previously worked with.
Henry’s commitment to clean energy was shaped throughout her entire academic trajectory. After completing her master’s degree, she received offers from three PhD programs but chose Ҵýƽ specifically for its wind energy research. On top of that, Henry won first place in the 2025 Three Minute Thesis competition on campus for her talk titled, Directing Wind Turbines with Foresight: The Shepherd and the Sheepdog Find a Crystal Ball.
“There’s no doubt clean energy will always matter,” she said. “We’re not going back to a de-electrified world and we can’t reach carbon reduction targets without transforming the electricity industry.”
While Zentus launched with a focus on wind turbines and solar panels, the company is already expanding its work on storage systems.
Energy storage is essential for renewable energy because weather-dependent sources like solar and wind require support to keep supply and demand balanced on the electric grid.
While lithium-ion batteries currently dominate due to cost advantages, Henry notes that longer-duration storage technologies and solutions continue to emerge.
“Our team has strong backgrounds in wind, storage and renewable systems,” said Henry. “In the long term, we hope to apply our tools to energy storage to reduce downtime and costs.”
As climate challenges accelerate and the world leverages renewable energy, innovations like those emerging from Zentus will be key to building a reliable, sustainable power infrastructure.
“Contribution is a core value of mine whether it’s to the planet and people. I want to contribute to the clean energy transition and our work of improving the reliability of renewables and energy storage supports that mission.”