Extension of Mayo airborne wind test site partnership
RWE, a world leader in renewable power generation, celebrated the first anniversary of the innovative Airborne Wind Energy (AWE) test facility in Bangor Erris, County Mayo, this month.
RWE’s partner on the test site, Kitepower, has had a very successful start in their testing programme with over 90 flights and 100 hours of test time.
RWE has also announced that it will be continuing its partnership with Kitepower in Bangor Erris into 2025.
AWE is a wind energy technology that RWE has been testing in Ireland in collaboration with its technology partner Kitepower, its partners in Mayo County Council and the MegaAwe Project, with funding from Interreg North West Europe. With its vast space and excellent wind conditions, the RWE test site is perfect for scaling up Kitepower’s innovative technology.
The extension for the site will allow Kitepower to finalise testing of its kite system and advance research on larger-scale airborne wind energy solutions.
Peter Lefroy, Head of Offshore Development, RWE Ireland & UK West, said: “We are pleased that RWE will continue to partner with Kitepower to further develop this new wind energy technology. RWE is exploring many different technical innovations to identify whether airborne wind technology could complement our existing renewables portfolio of offshore and onshore wind, solar energy and battery storage.”
Johannes Peschel, CEO, Kitepower, added: “This extended collaboration not only strengthens the partnership between Kitepower and RWE but also opens the door to valuable insights into the large-scale offshore potential of airborne wind energy.
“Flights have increased to five per week on average with flight times increasing to over 35 hours and the longest flight recorded of five and three quarter hours. Our test kite (the Falcon) can has a capacity of up to 100 kilowatts (kW), up from our smaller Hawk system with a capacity of
30 kW.”
Kitepower has established a permanent crew on-site to ensure continuous research and development efforts and plans to further expand its testing team in Ireland. This move underscores the company’s commitment to driving advancements in airborne wind energy and enhancing the efficiency of its systems.
Kitepower, uses a large kite structure with a hybrid inflatable and fixed fibreglass skeleton to hold the kite open. It has a wingspan of 60 square metres and weighs only 80kg, including the kite control and sensor unit.
The Kitepower Falcon system can generate up to 100 kWh and be flown up to 350 m in altitude using a Kite Control Unit (KCU) attached to the tether, to control the direction the kite flies.
In Ireland, RWE has four projects in operations including an onshore wind farm in Dromadda Beg in Co. Kerry, two battery storage facilities in Co. Dublin and Co. Monaghan and the Airborne Wind Test site in Mayo. The company has renewable energy projects in different stages of development including two offshore wind farms, 10 onshore wind farms and a further battery storage facility. RWE’s objective is to be a long-term energy partner for Ireland during the country’s transition to carbon neutrality.
A self-explanatory graphic is available on the Kitepower website which describes how the system works https://thekitepower.com/product/.