Manual launch of a Genetrix surf kite equipped with the TU Delft Kite Control Unit (24 October 2011).
Bjarke Kronborg
Director of Business Development eWind Solutions, Inc. 3800 SW Cedar Hills Blvd - Suite 260
Beaverton, OR 97005 U.S.A.
bjarke@ewindsolutions.com www.ewindsolutions.com
eWind Solutions Company Overview and Major Design Choices
Bjarke Kronborg, David Schaefer
eWind Solutions, Inc. eWind Solutions is a new player in the small airborne
wind energy space. We exist to help people reach their goals by providing them with affordable clean energy. This presentation will introduce you to the company and key people from the management team. eWind Solutions is located at the Oregon Technology Business Center–a business incubator in Portland, Oregon, USA. From here we are developing and testing our technology.
Our presentation will focus on our major design and busi-ness decisions, as well as our expected development trajectory. These decisions include low altitude flight, ground generation, rigid wing, single tether, leasing busi-ness model, grant financing, on-shore deployment and grid connection.
Our most noteworthy divergence from the major players is an explicit and direct focus on operating at low alti-tudes, namely below the FAA guidelines of 500 feet. This means we are developing a smaller unit (10 kW). This choice enables us to more affordably conduct prototyp-ing as well as build a market outside the regular compe-tition. Further, the design choice allows quicker deploy-ment and usability in more adjacent markets.
Low altitudes require high manoeuvrability and still high lift. They put additional stress on our requirements for a light kite, which is why we pursue ground generation. This enables us to use more robust components, enabling a cheaper and more reliable ground station optimised for low rotational speed.
A rigid wing provides improved aerodynamic
perfor-mance and a more durable kite. Additionally, it better enables the use of a single tether, as the tether is just for force transmission and not for flight control. With a smaller kite removal of a tether is a significant advan-tage to reduce weight and drag, thus leading to increased power output.
With a small product for deployment at small residen-tial and commercial properties in rural areas, the owner would typically not have available cash to outright pur-chase the unit. To make the product easier to buy, we will be providing our customers with an optional leasing model.
Our funding will initially depend on grants; to date we have received 100,000 USD. We have found that the in-dustry as a whole is so new that attracting private invest-ments is very difficult. We hope this will change during 2016.
Our customers are on land and our product will be on land, near the place of consumption. This reduces com-plexity and installation costs. Further, it enables grid con-nection and thus our ability to tap into various govern-mental net metering incentives for wind power. We in-tend to pursue this, knowing that it will require certifica-tion. As such, off-grid applications are likely to be the first usage.
We will include a broader discussion about pros and cons in regards to the ability to operate above and below the FAA limitations.
