2nd generation wind energy: Airborne Wind Energy

Introduction

Henry Ford: "If I had asked people what they wanted they would have said Faster Horses'.

Among novel technologies for producing electricity from renewable resources, a new class of wind
energy converters has been conceived under the name of Airborne Wind Energy Systems(AWESs).This
new generation of systems employs flying tethered wings or aircraft in order to reach winds blowing at
atmosphere layers that are inaccessible by traditional wind turbines. Research on AWESs started in the
mid seventies, with a rapid acceleration in the last decade. A number of systems based on radically
different concepts have been analyzed and tested. Several prototypes have been developed all over the
world and the results from early experiments are becoming available.

Approach

As one of the most mature Airborne Wind Energy technology developers, Ampyx Power can give the audience an update on where the Airborne Wind Energy industry stands.

Main body of abstract

After several prototypes, Ampyx Power is developing and testing two 5.5m ‘PowerPlanes’. They are two officially registered aircraft that are automatically controlled with state of the art avionics. They are constructed with a carbon fiber body and a carbon backbone truss which houses onboard electronics with sensors
and actuators. Onboard actuators can drive a rudder, an elevator and four flaperons. One rope connects the glider to a single winch in the ground station. Ampyx Power is actually one of the few companies which has already developed an AWES (Airborne wind energy System) that is able to automatically perform the sequence of glider take-off, pumping cycles and landing. Take-off maneuver sees the glider lying on the ground facing the ground station at some meters of distance. As the winch starts exerting traction force on the rope,
the glider moves on the ground and, as soon as the lift forces exceed the weight forces, the glider takes off. They also installed a catapult for take-off and they have a propulsion system to climb up. The glider flight is fully autonomous during normal operations even though, for safety reasons, it can be occasionally controlled
wirelessly from the ground thanks to a backup autopilot. The pumping cycles are similar to those of a kite. Glider landing is similar to that of an airplane and is being equipped with an arresting line so as to stop the glider in a right position for a new take-off. During a test campaign in November 2012, the system
demonstrated an average power production of 6kW with peaks of over15kW earlier tests showed peak in power production of 30 kW). Ampyx Power has started the design of its first commercial product: a 35m wingspan PowerPlane with a ‘wind turbine equivalent’ power of 2MW.

Conclusion

AWES (Airborne Wind Energy Systems) will enter the market in the years to come - and some of them on a market utility scale. This can help the wind industry to lead the energy transition.


Learning objectives
Delegates can learn about a next generation wind energy technology: Airborne Wind Energy. Founder and Director of Ampyx Power (founded in 2008) Richard Ruiterkamp will explain how the technology works, what the differences are between various world wide initiatives, and where the industry stands today.