Airborne Wind Energy

Airborne wind energy is a new class of wind energy converters that employs flying tethered wings or aircraft to reach winds blowing at atmosphere layers that are inaccessible by traditional wind turbines.The autonomous aircraft moves in a regular cross-wind figure-8 pattern at high altitudes and in turn,turns a winch via a line,driving a power generator.Research on airborne wind energy started in the mid seventies,and has gained noticeable

Airborne wind energy is a new class of wind energy converters that employs flying tethered wings or aircraft to reach winds blowing at atmosphere layers that are inaccessible by traditional wind turbines. The autonomous aircraft moves in a regular cross-wind figure-8 pattern at high altitudes and in turn, turns a winch via a line, driving a power generator. Research on airborne wind energy started in the mid seventies, and has gained noticeable momentum recently. Several prototypes have been developed all over the world, and billions of dollars fund has been raised to support the further investigation on the airborne wind energy.