This announcement follows discussions aimed at demonstrating a Kitepower system and assessing the feasibility of La Gomera Island as an Airborne Wind Energy Center of Excellence. CT Ingenieros, Kitepower’s primary partner in the project, with the support of the Island Government, is planning to construct a Flight Test Center on the island, with Kitepower as the first occupants.

The project, scheduled to commence in the fourth quarter of 2024, will consist of three phases. The initial phase will involve a three-month demonstration and feasibility study with our system onsite to showcase the capabilities of the FTC. The second phase will focus on power production for a duration of one to two years, followed by continuous operation in the third phase spanning four to six years.

Airborne wind energy innovation

“This collaboration represents a significant milestone for both Kitepower and the entire Airborne Wind Energy industry,” stated Johannes Peschel, CEO of Kitepower. “We are excited to demonstrate our systems and explore the potential of La Gomera as a hub for airborne wind energy innovation. This project will not only advance our technological capabilities but also contribute to the economic, social, and environmental objectives of La Gomera.”

“CT is proud to be a part of this groundbreaking project,” said Agustin Arjonilla, Senior Consultant at CT. “We believe that Airborne Wind Energy has the potential to revolutionise the way we generate clean energy, and we are confident that this testing site will play a key role in advancing this technology in this particular area.“.

The partnership between Kitepower and CT underscores the importance of public-private collaborations in fostering innovation and sustainable development. La Gomera sees this project as an opportunity to diversify its economy and emerge as a leading center for energy generation and technological advancement.

A few weeks ago, Kristian Petrick, Secretary General of the sector association Airborne Wind Europe signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Cabildo of La Gomera: “We are very grateful for the opportunity that La Gomera offers to the AWE sector. With CT Ingenieros and Kitepower leading the project, we are confident that we will see the first kites flying on La Gomera already by the end of this year, demonstrating how fast this technology can be implemented.”.

About CT

CT is a leading engineering company throughout the complete product lifecycle. For more than 35 years, our mission has been to provide innovative services and technological solutions that help our clients be more effective and competitive. Today, CT´s success is driven by 2.000+ engineers in seven countries providing end-to-end expert support to leading customers in the aeronautical, space, naval, automotive, railway, energy and industrial plant sectors.  

About Airborne Wind Europe

Airborne Wind Europe is the association of the Airborne Wind Energy (AWE) sector. It promotes the development and deployment of AWE Systems, i.e. tethered kites that generate energy from high-altitude wind. Airborne Wind Europe encourages collaboration and exchange between technology developers, policy makers, research institutes and universities, as well as other stakeholders like public administration and authorities, suppliers, utilities, energy consumers, investors and financial institutions.

The post Kitepower to develop test site on La Gomera in collaboration with CT Ingenieros and the support of the Island Government appeared first on Kitepower.

Islands offer fundamental challenges for any energy supply, as the cost of running a power line or even supplying fuel to local generators is often several times what the same would cost on the mainland. For this reason, energy tends to be supplied by generators running on diesel imported at very high costs. Considering these drawbacks, the urge to hybridise with renewables is growing. And while traditional renewable energy sources like wind turbines and solar PV are growing, they require significant investment and also have their very own drawback. Whereas solar electricity generation is only available during daylight and conventional wind turbines are often not feasible due to high transport costs and heavy foundations. However, there is a new kid on the block with a perfect solution for exactly that – Kitepower.

Kitepower is a Dutch leading start-up in Airborne Wind Energy (AWE), developing innovative and cost-effective alternatives to existing wind turbines by using kites to generate electricity. Kitepower’s patented technology is a game-changer in the wind energy sector, using 90 % less material while being twice as efficient as existing technology with the same power output. Unlike conventional wind turbines, a Kitepower system does not require resource-intensive towers or heavy foundations and is thus easy to transport and deploy.

In 2021 Kitepower showed the viability of its technology for remote locations by deploying the Falcon 100kW system on the Caribbean Island of Aruba. Aruba marked the successful completion of a development that has been ongoing since the establishment of the company in 2016. The Aruba project was in collaboration with the Dutch Ministry of Defence (MoD) and marked an important milestone not just for Kitepower but for AWES overall – it was the Kitepower System operating outside of Europe and the first Airborne Wind Energy system in the Caribbean. “A dream finally came true: A milestone that I have envisioned since the incorporation of Kitepower five years ago. We have finally shipped and flown a Kitepower system on a Caribbean Island”, said Johannes Peschel, Founder and CEO of Kitepower.

Airborne wind energy systems work extremely well on islands due to high coastal winds ensuring strong steady power generation. This obviously means traditional wind energy systems would work on Islands, however, transporting conventional wind turbines is no mean feat – with all the overweight and over-dimensional freight-related issues – the transportation of the Kitepower Falcon 100kW AWES validated the system’s strategical potential when it comes to reaching rural and remote areas via ordinary and even narrow roads. A Kitepower system fits in a 20ft container which makes its transportation very simple and can be easily installed and operated in less than 24 hours. The versatility of AWES opens up new geographical markets for the generation of distributed wind energy and empowers operational sites and communities across remote and rural areas of the world to emancipate themselves from expensive and polluting fossil fuels. Kitepower’s AWES can be deployed in harsh environments and can generate electricity during day and night, on cloudy and rainy days, assuring higher capacity factors (+75 %) than solar PV (12 %) and conventional wind turbines (35 %). Integrating Kitepower into a microgrid in combination with batteries allows to switch off diesel generators completely.

The potential Island market alone is a huge opportunity for these systems with roughly 1,800 small islands equivalent to approximately 100,000 inhabitants that could be potentially powered by Kitepower systems. A large part of this market will be powered by traditional systems such as solar PV and conventional wind turbines but due to its unique deployability, low price, and easy transport and operation Kitepower has the potential to play an important part in making the energy in these areas both more sustainable and the communities more independent from fossil fuels. After the huge Caribbean success on Aruba Kitepower is now ramping up towards the next big leap of further developing and optimising the current systems to bring airborne wind energy systems all over the world. Kitepower now opens up to new investors of all sizes in their crowdfunding campaign – learn more about the campaign here.

The post Modern problems require modern solutions appeared first on Kitepower.

This is a groundbreaking milestone for Kitepower and the whole AWE industry, namely:

• This is the very first Kitepower operation to be carried outside of the European continent
• This is the very first Airborne Wind Energy system to be operated in the Caribbean

The vessel carrying Kitepower’s Falcon 100kW AWES has shipped from the port of Eemshaven at the beginning of September and arrived on the island of Aruba a couple of weeks later. Delivering the Kitepower Falcon overseas represented a great opportunity to put to the test the system’s logistics and once more prove its huge transportation and installation advantages. The entire trip went smoothly, two standard trucks, one for the Kitepower system and one for the Greener battery, were all we needed to reach the deployment site on land. Whereas transporting conventional wind turbines is no mean feat – with all the overweight and over-dimensional freight-related issues – the transportation of the Kitepower Falcon 100kW AWES validated the system’s strategical potential when it comes to reaching rural and remote areas via ordinary and even narrow roads.

The deployment of Kitepower’s AWE technology is taking place near the 30MW Vader Piet Wind Farm, NuCapital‘s first involvement on the island dated 2009, led by wind energy expert and Kitepower’s mentor & investor Henk Hutting (1952 – 2021).

“Henk has been a strong supporter of Kitepower and I am incredibly grateful that part of our common dream – bringing Kitepower to the Caribbeans – becomes reality. It is especially satisfying that we are flying in front of a wind farm that was developed by him and I hope he will be watching from his star” adds Kitepower’s Founder CEO, Johannes Peschel.

The project shows how MoD’s strategic foresight activities, which take climate change into consideration, have recently been stepped up throughout applicable regional cases. Kitepower is proud to be supporting the Dutch Ministry of Defence with innovative energy solutions in operational situations.

Kitepower & The Dutch Ministry of Defence – Background

It was November 2016 when the relationship between the Dutch Ministry of Defence and Kitepower first started. Back then, Kitepower had just won the Innovation Competition themed “Energy for Military Operations” aimed to foster the development of a 100kW Airborne Wind Energy System capable to support the ministry’s decarbonization commitment (Operationele Energiestrategie, OES-2015). Meer informatie.

Following up on the Innovation competition, in early 2018, Kitepower successfully performed a training session for the Dutch Defence in order to introduce the Falcon 100kW system and its operation. This was the first time that an external crew operated a Kitepower AWES. Meer informatie.

After the Innovation Competition, in 2019 Kitepower received a second valuable collaboration agreement with the Dutch Defence focused on reporting the benefits of deploying Kitepower throughout Defence’s field operations, named: “Kitepower System for the New Defence Technology Program” and this is what ultimately led to the project taking place in 2021 on the Dutch Caribbean Island of Aruba. The collaboration agreement had developed within the framework of the National Technology Project (NTP), a program that stimulates the development of prototypes and demonstration of defence-specific applications.

The Dutch Defence aims to reduce dependence on fossil fuels across its worldwide campaigns. Kitepower’s innovative wind energy technology offers an environmentally friendly solution for deployments in remote locations, where logistical supply lines cannot be guaranteed, by reducing diesel consumption and increasing energy independence.

Lieutenant Colonel Paul van der Heul affirms “Kitepower is one of the interesting possibilities of energy supply. We see the application as Defence in the operational and civil domain, it has social added value. This is one of the reasons for Defence to participate in this project. This offers opportunities, especially in remote and windy areas such as islands”.

Airborne Wind Energy on Islands

Airborne wind energy systems work extremely well on islands due to high coastal winds ensuring strong steady power generation. Islands offer fundamental challenges for any energy supply, as the cost of running a power line or even supplying fuel to local generators are often several times what the same would cost on the mainland. For this reason, energy tends to be supplied by generators running on diesel imported at very high costs. Kitepower offers an excellent solution to reducing the fuel consumption, cost and environmental footprint of these generators.

Kitepower can be integrated into microgrids allowing to unlock the potential of airborne wind energy When integrating Kitepower in combination with batteries, diesel generators can be switched off completely. Hybridizing with Kitepower results in less diesel consumption for more clean energy, culminating in considerable financial savings even for areas that do not experience consistent high wind speeds.

Johannes Peschel, Founder CEO of Kitepower, says: “A dream finally came true: A milestone that I have envisioned since the incorporation of Kitepower five years ago. We have finally shipped and flown a Kitepower system on a Caribbean Island. It is rewarding to see one of our kites flying next to Henk’s wind farm (Vader Piet in Aruba) and I believe it is truly remarkable to be able to witness what Kitepower has accomplished in the course of the last years. I would like to thank Henk, the department of Defense, all supporters and especially the Kitepower team for the blood, sweat and tears that have been put into the system and look forward to many more Kitepower operations in Europe and overseas!”

The post Kitepower in Aruba appeared first on Kitepower.

The majority of small islands and remote communities still rely on diesel generators for electricity supply, which is risky business with volatile fossil fuel costs as well as dependence on outside transportation and storage. These two factors make powering a remote community excessively costly. In the past renewable energy sources have been overlooked due to high implementation costs as well as aesthetic reasons, however it is becoming a much more viable option with initiatives such as Kitepower, which is both inexpensive and virtually invisible.

By using an additional Kitepower system in combination with batteries, diesel generators can be switched off completely while remaining available as backup in case of low wind. Traditionally, a number of diesel generators would run idle to be able to ramp up quickly in case of fast increase in energy demand. Kitepower can instead provide energy directly into the microgrid allowing batteries to charge up with the energy surplus so being able to respond instantly to demand shifts hence avoiding idle generators. This hybrid system results in less diesel consumption for more power, culminating in considerable financial savings even for areas that don’t experience consistent high wind speeds.

Moreover

If financial incentive isn’t enough, one should also consider the benefits of increased independence. The Kitepower systems are comparatively easy and quick to install as well as manoeuvre: ensuing low maintenance and enhanced self-sufficiency. Airborne wind energy systems work extremely well on islands due to high coastal winds ensuring strong steady power generation. These areas also tend to suffer more extreme weather conditions and subsequent power outages, however Kitepower is ‘hurricane proof’, culminating in more reliable as well as cheaper energy. These qualities are highlighted in Kitepower’s involvement in relief efforts, where modular and mobile 20ft ground stations can be deployed for quick energy supply after natural disasters (see bid-book for the recovery campaign on Saint Martin Island in 2017 after it was hit by hurricane Irma.).

It is now possible for remote communities to reap the benefits of renewable energy sources; healthier and more independent living with the added bonus of saving a “little” cash.

Lastly, there is the all-important green motivation. Renewable energy sources do exactly what they say on the tin: there is not a finite source amount so once these systems are in place they will continue to generate. This means they can help to significantly reduce the amount of greenhouse gas emissions, the use of fossil fuels being a main culprit of this. As aforementioned the location can impact the effectiveness of these renewable energy sources however the payoff is mammoth in well-suited areas, such as islands harnessing airborne wind energy systems, resulting in drastic reductions of emissions.

The post Kite Empowerment appeared first on Kitepower.