Guido Lütsch
Head of HWN500 Network Management VIP Innovation GmbH Am Oberhafen 12 13597 Berlin Germany guido.luetsch@hwn500.de www.hwn500.de
Airborne Wind Energy Network HWN500 – Shouldering R&D in Co-Operations
Guido LütschHWN500 Network HWN500 (”Höhenwindnutzung bis 500 Meter”, or, in
En-glish ”High Altitude Wind Energy up to 500 Metres”) is a network funded by the German Federal Ministry for Eco-nomic Affairs and Energy (BMWI) within the ”Zentrales Innovationsprogramm Mittelstand”(ZIM). ZIM is a fund-ing programme for small and medium sized enterprises (SME) with business operations in Germany that want to develop new or significantly improve existing products, processes or technical services. As the cooperation part-ner of an SME, public and private non-profit research and technology organisations (RTO) are also eligible. Goal of the HWN500 network is to initiate R&D-projects for the development of innovative airborne wind energy systems. High availability, low material consumption and low cost characterize Airborne Wind Energy (AWE) sys-tems. The tethered flying device can flexibly ”follow the wind” where it is strongest and therefore uses the persis-tent wind in altitudes up to 500 m significantly more effi-cient than conventional (towered) wind power plants. The HWN500 network currently includes 14 industrial and 6 scientific partners, among them 6 developers of AWE systems and is steadily growing. The members profit from project-related cooperations. Goal of the network is to impartially support renewable Airborne Wind En-ergy (AWE) technologies to mature by identifying and ini-tiating R&D projects that are necessary for commercial-ization. Therefore, the current state of the art is to be recorded as well as the whole range of AWE-specific
re-quirements to bring AWE systems to market. HWN500 considers the whole range from technological to social, environmental, political, economic and legal aspects. The gap between state of the art and requirements as well as the information about the current situation shall be used for R&D efforts in cooperations of the members of the network and for communication to stakeholders in AWE. To find out the status of development in AWE as well as the most urgent needs within the AWE-industry the network undertook a survey in February 2015. We would like to present at AWEC 2015 the findings and results of the survey as well as the work of the network and its part-ners. Airborne Wind Energy System Aerodynamics & Meteorology Steering & Control Robotics & Sensors Material & Safety Energy & Storage Authorization & Acceptancy
Research areas covered in HWN500
Leading Edge Inflatable tubular kite and mechatronic Kite Control Unit during flight (12 April 2012).
