Operation of the EnerKíte EK02 prototype wing (18 November 2014). 22
Alexander Bormann Co-founder and CEO
EnerKíte GmbH Fichtenhof 5 14532 Kleinmachnow Germany a.bormann@enerkite.com www.enerkite.com
Global Economy of Airborne Wind Energy and our Path
Towards a Market-Ready Technology
Alexander Bormann, Christian Gebhardt, Christoph Hauke, Stefan Skutnik EnerKíte GmbH
What are the capital and operational costs, suitable power curves and site-specific wind conditions which de-fine the economic viability of Airborne Wind Energy Sys-tems (AWES) as a competitive source of electricity? And how can developers as small as an SME assess competi-tive advantages and bring products to the market? While conventional wind turbines in the MW-range are aiming for larger towers and higher hubs in order to har-vest stronger winds, small and mid-size wind turbines struggle to find economic wind conditions.
Ideal typical levelised cost of electricity (LCOE) for En-erKíte’s EK200 and EK1M systems are assessed using the global wind data from the IRENA wind atlas [1] at 80 m, as-suming simplified wind profiles as used for the EEG Ref-erence Yield and based on the design power curve. The results are compared to data available for 100 kW wind turbines including a reference to the economy of today’s MW wind turbines.
While size and configuration of an AWES comes along with specific risks and barriers, a roadmap for the mar-ket entry is developed based on the specific results. Fur-ther, a GIS-based system for the pre-evaluation of poten-tial sites is developed.
Within two years from now the first prototype of an EK200 unit with 100 kW will be brought to pilot operation. For the generation of an adequate basis for permissions En-erKíte pushes toward standardisation of the risk assess-ment and performance estimation. Theoretical models are validated by use of the results of the 30 kW demon-strator platform, which soon will be fitted with the first system for autonomous launch and landing of semi-rigid wings.
The author will illustrate the current status of the devel-opments as well of the joint activities towards system-independent technical guidelines for the design, perfor-mance and safe operation of AWES. While certification be-comes a minor task for smaller units, permission by avi-ation authorities is needed to operate an AWES on the 24/365 basis. The development of a standardised risk assessment and risk management includes specific ob-struction markings for AWES as a common field of interest and cooperation.
References:
[1] International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA): Global Atlas for Renewable Energy. http://globalatlas.irena.org/. Accessed 1 June 2015
