The aim of this executive overview is to summarise the content of this extensive report regarding the design of an Landing, Launching and Storage (LLS) system for a soft kite Airborne Wind Energy (AWE) system.
An innovative idea does not translate automatically to financial gain. With new technologies, such as AWEs it is crucial to assess the potential market for a product and the associated economic performance. Four market segments exist for energy generation: on-shore on-grid, on-shore off-grid, off-shore on-grid and off-shore off-grid. AWE performs best in on-shore offgrid applications due to its high mobility, higher capacity factor compared to wind and relatively lower land usage. AWE soft kites are currently targeting 100 kW to 500 kW range, which is currently dominated by medium-power diesel generators.