Airborne Wind Energy – Technology Review And Feasibility in Germany

As a new generation of wind energy systems, AWESs (Airborne Wind Energy Systems) have the potential to grow competitive to their conventional ancestors within the upcoming decade. An overview of the state of the art of AWESs has been presented. For the feasibility analysis of AWESs in Germany, a detailed wind analysis of a three dimensional grid of 80 data points above Germany has been conducted. Long-term NWM (Numerical Weather Model) data over 38 years provided by the NCEP (National Centers for Environmental Prediction) has been analysed to determine the wind probability distributions at elevated altitudes. Besides other data, these distributions and available performance curves have been used to calculate the evaluation criteria AEEY (Annual Electrical Energy Yield) and CF (Capacity Factor). Together with the additional criteria LCOE (Levelised Costs of Electricity), MP (Material Performance), and REP (Rated Electrical Power) a quantitative cost utility analysis according to Zangemeister has been conducted. This analysis has shown that AWESs look promising and could become an attractive alternative to traditional wind energy systems.