Stefan Wilhelm
MSc Student
Hamburg University of Technology Energy Technology and Environmental
Engineering Vogesenstr. 28
77855 Achern Germany wilhelm.stefan@gmail.com
Life Cycle Assessment of Electricity Production
from an Airborne Wind Energy System
Stefan Wilhelm
Hamburg University of Technology In the current literature there is no profound evaluation
of the ecological aspects of airborne wind energy systems (AWE). However, it could be very supporting for the AWE pioneers to have a scientific statement about this topic when communicating with stakeholders in the field like financiers, legislative force, local/national/European gov-ernment, the public and others.
In this study, the environmental impact of 1 kWhel pro-duced from an AWE system is analysed. Subject of the thesis is the implementation of a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) based on ISO 14040 and ISO 14044. For that pur-pose, energy and material flows of all life cycle processes from exploitation of raw materials, manufacturing, as-sembly, transportation, installation, operation and main-tenance until decommissioning / disposal / recycling are described. The impact of all life cycle phases on global warming potential (GWP100a) and cumulated energy de-mand (CED) is assessed using the CML2001 method. In a sensitivity analysis, the relevant factors are determined and their influence on the overall results studied. AWE system developers might consider the driving factors in the early development of their systems.
The study is based on a generalized 1.65 MW rigid wing AWE system with ground based generator in an arrange-ment of a 300 MW plant. The investigation includes all required components up to connection to the electricity grid at a certain site.
Landfill & Incineration
Decomissioning & Disposal
Recycling & Reuse
Natural Resources Raw Material & Energy Manufacture Transport & Installation Operation & Maintenance 75
