Airborne wind energy (AWE) is a class of emerging renewable energy technologies that are based on tethered flying devices replacing the foundation and rigid tower of conventional wind turbines. AWE systems can potentially achieve lower energy costs at a reduced environmental footprint and with access to wind at higher altitudes. Current predictions confirm the potential impact on the energy situation in Europe and the world. However, apart from the common feature of using tethered flying devices, the technical details and designs of AWE systems can be quite different. The currently pursued conversion concepts use combinations of flexible membrane wings or rigid aircraft-like kites, single or multiple tethers with various ways to control the flying devices and airborne or ground-based electricity generation. While the concept is highly promising, major academic and industrial research is still needed to achieve the performance required for industrial deployment. Following a decade of systematic technical development, several commercial prototype platforms have reached power levels between 50 and 600 Kilowatts. None of these has however been operated long-term under real-world conditions. Typical scientific and technical challenges include operational reliability and robustness of the system, computational tools for the design and engineering phases as well as for the operation of the systems.
Addressing these challenges was the shared objective of the doctoral training network AWESCO (Airborne Wind Energy System Modelling, Control and Optimisation), which was launched in January 2015 and was funded by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement No. 642682. The network aimed at (1) training a new generation of world class AWE researchers highly valuable to the industry, (2) expanding the training, scientific and technical knowledge base for AWE, and (3) establishing the framework for long-term cooperation between universities and industry. Technical and scientific breakthroughs were expected for (1) modelling and computational simulation of flexible as well as rigid wing systems, (2) system design and optimisation of reliable launching, power generation and landing operation, and (3) developing new sensors, estimation and control algorithms. At finalisation of the project, the AWESCO consortium consisted of 6 academic and 3 industry beneficiaries as well as 2 fully-integrated Swiss partners with own national funding. In total 16 Early Stage Researchers (ESR) worked on 4 ambitious work packages that were aligned with the technical and scientific aims of the project. The AWESCO consortium was complemented by 9 partner organisations. Actively involved in AWE, these had joined the training network to provide secondment opportunities for ESRs, but also to send own staff or researchers to the AWESCO network trainings.
The systematic multi-disciplinary research of the AWESCO network has substantially increased the knowledge base for AWE, especially in the targetted areas of system modelling, control and optimization. The collaboration between the AWESCO network and 4 parallel EU-projects at industrial consortium partners, REACH, EK200-AWESOME, AMPYXAP3 and NEXTWIND, has created an effective research ecosystem of high value to all parties involved and the AWE community in general. The innovation potential of this ecosystem is also demonstrated by the fact that the academic beneficiaries spun-off 4 new AWE companies during the runtime of the network: Enevate (TUD), Aenarete (TUD), Kiteswarms (ALU-FR) and Kitekraft (TUM).
