Abstract
Airborne wind energy systems provide a novel solution to harvest wind energy from altitudes that cannot be reached by wind turbines with a similar nominal generator power. The use of a lightweight but strong tether in place of an expensive tower provides an additional cost advantage, next to the higher capacity factor and much lower total mass. This paper investigates the scaling effects of airborne wind energy systems. The energy yield of airborne wind energy systems, that work in pumping mode of operation is at least ten times higher than the energy yield of conventional solar systems. For airborne wind energy systems the yield is defined per square meter wing area. In this paper the dependency of the energy yield on the nominal generator power for systems in the range of 1 kW to 1 MW is investigated. For the onshore location Cabauw, The Netherlands, it is shown, that a generator of just 1.4 kW nominal power and a total system mass of less than 30 kg has the theoretical potential to harvest energy at only twice the price per kWh of large scale airborne wind energy systems. This would make airborne wind energy systems a very attractive choice for small scale remote and mobile applications as soon as the remaining challenges for commercialization are solved.
Highlights
The average size of wind turbines has been increasing continuously during the last decades
Airborne wind energy systems provide a novel solution to harvest wind energy from altitudes that can not be reached by wind turbines with a similar nominal generator power
This paper investigates the scaling effects of airborne wind energy systems
Summary
The average size of wind turbines has been increasing continuously during the last decades. Solar cells can work efficiently even at a very small scale, but not at every location sufficient sunlight is available. In [1] an efficiency analysis of an airborne wind energy system was presented It was concluded, that the product of the cycle efficiency and electrical efficiency should be higher than 50% to become competitive with conventional wind turbines. That the product of the cycle efficiency and electrical efficiency should be higher than 50% to become competitive with conventional wind turbines It was shown in a simulation, that this efficiency can be achieved with off-the-shelf generators for a system with 50 kW nominal power. How would the performance of the smallest, economically feasible AWE system compare with rated solar power systems and conventional wind turbines?. The influence of these components and their interaction on the power density is analyzed
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