Project description
Drones fly high for wind harvesting
Ground-based wind power generation requires wind turbines that are difficult to transport and install. The EU-funded project TwingTec is developing novel airborne wind technology to harness the stronger and steadier winds at higher altitudes. Their innovation relies on a drone that is connected to the ground station by a tether and can take off vertically and land safely in all wind conditions. It uses less material, is easy to deploy, and can be transported without a hassle. The initial target is the off-grid market, where power is produced with diesel generators at high costs in remote communities.
Objective
Wind energy represents 25% of the new global installed electrical generation capacity, however, ground-based wind turbines (WTs) are estimated to supply only 18% of the world’s electricity by 2050, as current wind energy systems have major challenges limiting their commercial applications: heavy dependence of productivity on the prevailing weather and huge material needs, entailing low capacity factors, difficult and expensive transportation, troublesome installation and high costs.
Our disruptive technology -Airborne Wind Energy, AWE- can harness the energy of the wind at high altitude to provide greater power output than conventional WTs, much higher capacity factors, exceeding 60% in good sites, using 95% less material needs per MW and avoiding all the associated issues. It replaces most of a conventional WT, namely the tower, blades and foundation by a much lighter and less expensive flying tethered aircraft.
The reason for seeking wind at high altitude is that the wind blows faster and more constantly. Although conventional WTs are simply not viable in most areas, TwingTec can exploit high steady winds over most of the land area of the Earth.
We firstly target the off-grid market relying on diesel generation, for the perfect combination of high energy costs and mobility requirements met by TwingTec: industrial off-takers and remote communities. LCOE estimations are €100-200/MWh, much cheaper than diesel generation. In the medium term, our products will address bigger scale promising markets as the off-shore segment in EU Islands, drastically decreasing LCOE. Unlike competitors, we have a proven technology, demonstrating our solution for automated Vertical Take-Off and Landing using integrated drone technology -patented-.
TwingTec enables 2 business models: 1) OEM: TwingTec units are purchased and transport and installation costs are charged together with an annual O&M fee. 2) Energy as a Service: Off-grid electricity is paid to TwingTec on a per MWh basis.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
- engineering and technology mechanical engineering vehicle engineering aerospace engineering aircraft
- social sciences economics and business business and management business models
- social sciences economics and business economics production economics productivity
- engineering and technology environmental engineering energy and fuels renewable energy wind energy
- engineering and technology electrical engineering, electronic engineering, information engineering electronic engineering robotics autonomous robots drones
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Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
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H2020-EU.2.3. - INDUSTRIAL LEADERSHIP - Innovation In SMEs
MAIN PROGRAMME
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H2020-EU.3. - PRIORITY 'Societal challenges
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H2020-EU.2.1. - INDUSTRIAL LEADERSHIP - Leadership in enabling and industrial technologies
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Topic(s)
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Funding Scheme
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
SME-1 - SME instrument phase 1
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Call for proposal
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
(opens in new window) H2020-EIC-SMEInst-2018-2020
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Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.
8600 DUBENDORF
Switzerland
The organization defined itself as SME (small and medium-sized enterprise) at the time the Grant Agreement was signed.
The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.