With luck, the airborne wind energy space will sink back into academic research efforts involving kitesurfing kites at University of Delft. It’s useful to continue to play with things in academia, and it’s a domain with a lot of engineering complexity that’s a good proving ground for engineers who can go on to do useful things as a result.
European-based public utility E.ON SE announced this week that it is investing in airborne wind energy, an innovative type of wind energy based around offshore tethered drones.
A recent study led by the University of Delaware has bolstered the idea that airborne wind energy could be a beneficial addition to the existing energy mix, stating that such generation mechanisms tethered to the ground “have the potential to generate huge amounts of electricity.” Specifically, there are very fast … [continued]
Kite-based wind generation was first proposed in the 1940s, the seminal power potential paper was published in 1980 and it was first demonstrated in 1986. So why isn’t there a single production system or even an a quarter-scale production prototype in existence today? Each of the combinations of design choices … [continued]
Despite skeptics, the airborne wind energy field is gathering momentum and attracting more investor dollars, both public and private.
Researchers at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory are developing battery technologies to fight climate change in two ways, by expanding the use of renewable energy and capturing airborne carbon dioxide. This type of battery stores the renewable energy generated by solar panels or wind turbines. Utilizing this … [continued]
New High-Resolution Solar Data and Analysis Provides In-Depth Look at Solar Resources in Africa, Eastern Europe, and the Middle East Over 20 years of research in solar radiation at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) is now poised to advance power system planning and solar energy deployment across Africa, Eastern … [continued]
New Wind Resource Database Provides What You Need To Know—Including the Updated WIND Toolkit They say you do not need a weather forecaster to know which way the wind blows. If you are planning to install a wind turbine or wind farm, there is more to it than that. You … [continued]
A US startup has hatched a new plan to bring supersized wind turbines to onshore wind farms, opening up new opportunities for development.
Study Finds Offshore Energy Could Help the World Reach Critical Carbon Removal Goals (And a Bubbly, Soda-Like Method Might Be Our Best Bet) The Caribbean has a problem, and it stinks. Atop the Caribbean Sea’s famously pristine waters floats a 5,000-mile-wide heap of rust-colored, brambly seaweed. When that seaweed, a form … [continued]
