The results are promising. The single unit proved cost-competitive with conventional onshore wind, and farm layouts reached power densities in the same range as conventional onshore wind farms.
Read the full info pack for the numbers behind each test
The gap between promises and achievements tends to widen…
Crikey … That’s a strong claim…
The test case demonstrated the strong technical and economic potential of AWES. Results indicate a levelized cost of energy (LCoE) of approximately €31/ MWh at the Bangor Erris site, comparable to conventional onshore wind, with an estimated payback period of around two years.
From the pdf:
TECHNOLOGY OVERVIEW
This test case considers a large offshore farm of airborne windplanes based on a
scaled-up 1 MW unit. Each windplane features a 30 m wingspan, 3.0 m rotors, a mass
of approximately 2,000 kg and a 450 m tether, enabling access to stronger offshore
wind resources. System and farm performance are assessed using an open-source
tool-chain that combines windplane dynamics, wake modelling, economic analysis
and multidisciplinary design optimisation.
This reminds me of the characteristics of Makani M600, which was tested about seven years ago, as stated in this video. It was generating positive energy from a certain wind speed, let’s say 10–11 m/s. It was nowhere near being ready to be rated at 1 MW. Apparently, a single unit did not produce enough to warrant considering a wind farm. And that’s not even mentioning reliability, dependability, durability, cost, land use…
In this video and the other videos and reports from Makani, these were not “test cases,” but actual tests. I do not recall that leading to a market launch, on any scale whatsoever.
Nope.
