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The European commission published their study about airborne wind energy

During the autumn of 2018 the EU has published its report about high-altitude wind energy. Kitemill collaborated with the authors to give the EU an insight into what is needed to lift high-altitude wind energy as a new energy technology.

An interesting study for Kitemill

Thomas Hårklau in Kitemill thinks the report is an important step in the right direction to engage the society towards high-altitude wind as a new energy technology. We feel that the report points to a long list of important actions and we have already initiated certain measures that the report points to as important for the sector. Not all the changes we have asked for during our interviews in the summer have been incorporated but the study is largely complete. One point the reader needs to remind, is that the field of airborne wind energy is under continuous development and the results on which the study are based, are quickly outdated.

Airborne Wind Europe thinks the study has an important shortcoming

The manager of Airborne Wind Europe, Udo Zillmann, is also optimistic with regards to the study, but he thinks it has an important shortcoming. The report points to the large industrial potential of airborne wind in Europe, and how high-altitude wind energy can be important in weak and isolated grids, but it doesn’t mention that airborne wind energy can be an important energy technology for Europe’s grid connected (i.e. baseload) energy system. This is wrong in our opinion and has been discussed directly with the EU commission in a follow-up meeting on the 22nd of October 2018.

The most important result we have seen from the report

After the report was published Kitemill noticed an increased willingness to collaborate between the different high-altitude wind energy companies. The report mentions it expects an increased collaboration between the airborne wind energy companies, because this is required for the sector to be considered mature. Kitemill has had this perspective for a long time and has worked actively together, but after this report we see that more companies take a similar position. This is currently the most important result of this report, says Hårklau.

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