Airborne Wind Energy System

An airborne wind energy system generates electricity from wind using a tethered aerodynamic or aerostatic device, such as a kite, kytoon, aerostat, glider or airfoil, that flies at altitudes a conventional tower mounted turbine cannot reach, converting the wind kinetic energy into mechanical energy either aloft or at a ground station, with power carried down through the tether by cable, mechanical force or another transmission method. Winds at higher altitude tend to be steadier and stronger than winds near the ground, and because the power available from wind rises with the cube of its speed, doubling the wind speed yields eight times the power and tripling it yields twenty seven times the power, which is the main appeal of flying higher than a fixed turbine can reach. The concept builds on kite and tethered flight research going back centuries, with concentrated development from the 1970s and 1980s onward, and it remains what the technology own literature calls an emerging industry, still working to prove its economics against conventional tower based wind turbines.