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Enerkite now has a factory for its flying wind turbines on the rope

01/26/2023

Source: Energy & Management Powernews

The dream of wind power projecting: double electricity yield, larger area selection, no tower, no foundation. Enerkite has for its flying wind turbines on the rope now a factory.

The "EnerKite GmbH" has moved from Berlin to its first factory in Eberswalde, Brandenburg, according to its own information. For the flying wind turbine manufacturer, the move to the 1,500-square-meter space is a "step toward series production" of a 100-kW series prototype with wings of 20 meters span.

Flying wind turbines generate green power by using wings or kites attached to ropes to drive a winch when flying aloft, which then acts as a generator. During the countermovement, the winch partially retracts the wing with less effort. This up and down takes place fully automatically with Enerkite.

Some start-ups have been working on such concepts for years (we reported); among others, Skysails, which had refocused on wind power after going bankrupt as a ship kite manufacturer, is also doing this. Now, 13 years after its founding, Enerkite appears to be leaving the pure research stage behind. But the company plans to continue collaborating with the following research institutions:

  • DLR German Aerospace Center
  • Technical University of Berlin
  • Brandenburg Technical University Cottbus-Senftenberg
  • Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Polymer Research IAP, Department of Polymer Materials and Composites (Pyco)

Four advantages of airborne wind turbines

For its airborne wind power, Enerkite claims the following advantages:

  • a double power yield per installed capacity. The 100-kW turbine is the most advanced, but research is also being conducted on 1-MW and 4-MW variants.
  • This, in turn, means that wind power would become economically viable on 80 percent of the world's land area instead of just 25 percent.
  • The turbines require neither tower nor foundation. This significantly reduces construction costs and the carbon footprint.
  • The intervention in the landscape is lower and thus the local acceptance higher, since there is no tower and the blades are at heights of 200 to 300 meters, above the average total height of current conventional turbines.

According to its website, Enerkite sees the main markets for its products as self-power supply, utilities and island supply (off-grid).

The core team of Enerkite

Since October 2022, Florian Breipohl (52) has been the CEO of Enerkite. He indirectly succeeded founder Alexander Bormann (54), who left in April 2022, and Bernhard Kämpf as CEO, according to the commercial register. Co-founder Christian Gebhardt is CTO, Nicole Allgaier COO. Both are not managing directors.

The new infrastructure and further product development will be paid for by an ongoing round of financing on the crowdfunding platform Funder Nation, which has raised just under 1 million euros so far, and with 3.4 million euros from the Investment Bank of the State of Brandenburg. The overall team of the flying wind turbine manufacturer Enerkite Source: Enerkite A flying wind turbine from Enerkite in front of a conventional wind turbine Source: Enerkite

Further information on the company Enerkite and the concept of flying wind turbines can be found here.

Author: Georg Eble