Kitepower: Commercializing a 100 kW Mobile Wind Energy System

Johannes Peschel, Joep Breuer, Roland Schmehl

Research output: Contribution to conferenceAbstractScientific

Abstract

At Kitepower, we focus on commercializing mobile 100 kWKitepower systemsthat are suitable for temporary operation and installation in remote locations. Kitepower is a spin-off from the research group at TU Delft first established by Wubbo Ockels and now at the core of REACH, a e3.7 million EU H2020 FTI program [1]. Within this project, Kitepower integrates almost 20 years of academic knowledge in high altitude wind energy from the TU Delft with hardware from experienced industrial partners. We pair the agility and the drive of a startup company with the knowledge of a top research institute ś TU Delft ś and in a next step combine it with the production capabilities and expertise of the established companies Maxon Motor, Dromec and Genetrix. Kitepower itself is responsible for the commercialization, the overall system architecture, design, simulation and the control software. We improved our 20 kW prototype and developed the ’Model A’ of our 100 kW product with a peak power of 180 kW. We believe that we are the first to have a mobile wind energy system of this size operational. Besides numerous flight hours, we already had several night flights. With our newKite Control Unit (KCU) which is no longer dependent on battery power, we are moving towards two months of operation until the end of the year. The major advantage of our system lies in the fact that we use a KCU and a soft kite. These are simple components that are very robust, easy to control, have a low weight as well as low costs and are easy to manufacture and to replace. Although the soft kite inherently has a lower aerodynamic performance, we believe that its simplicity and robustness fits perfectly with the off-grid market. We are currently working on a new wing design with improved aerodynamics and structure to make a high efficiency, high wing loading soft kite possible. The 100 kW product is based on a 20 ft container and a 50ś80 m2 kite. The system is marketed as an add-on for diesel generators in order to save on diesel costs in remote locations. It is estimated that the system can save up to 150000 L of diesel ś 400 t of CO2 ś per year under appropriate wind conditions. We are running multiple pilot systemsuntil our final product is ready by the end of 2018.
Original languageEnglish
Pages51-51
Number of pages1
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2017
Event7th international Airborne Wind Energy Conference (AWEC 2017) - Freiburg, Germany
Duration: 5 Oct 20176 Oct 2017
Conference number: 7
https://www.awec2017.com

Conference

Conference7th international Airborne Wind Energy Conference (AWEC 2017)
Abbreviated titleAWEC 2017
Country/TerritoryGermany
CityFreiburg
Period5/10/176/10/17
Internet address

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Kitepower: Commercializing a 100 kW Mobile Wind Energy System'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this