Airborne Wind Energy

System Modelling, Control and Optimisation

AWESCO is an interdisciplinary doctoral training network addressing key technical challenges of wind energy generation using tethered wings, of both rigid and flexible membrane type. AWESCO employs 16 PhD fellows
at 8 academic and 4 industrial
partners across Europe.

Airborne Wind Energy

Learn more about the different technologies

News

The 2019 American Control Conference (ACC), 10–12 July 2019 in Philadelphia, USA, includes a session Control of Airborne Wind …

Abstracts for the Airborne Wind Energy Conference (AWEC) 2019 in Glasgow, 15–16 October 2019, can be submitted until 4 June 2019.

The Wind Energy Science Conference (WESC) 2019 will be held in Cork, 17–20 June 2019. At least 18 of the presentations will be on …

Schmehl, who coordinated two H2020 projects on airborne wind energy, explains how the projects advanced the emerging technology.

After four years the final project report was submitted to the funding agency.

The Doctoral Training Network

Researchers

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Mikko Folkersma

PhD Researcher

Computational Fluid Dynamics, Computational Structural Mechanics, Fluid Structure Interaction

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Sebastian Rapp

PhD Researcher

Control Systems, Robust Control, Stochastic Control System Verification

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Rachel Leuthold

PhD Researcher

Modelling, Simulation, and Control, Aerodynamic Vortex Methods, Centrifugally Stiffened Rotors, Multi-kite Systems

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Andrea Zanelli

PhD Researcher

Nonlinear Optimization, Model Predictive Control, Embedded Systems

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Elena Malz

PhD Researcher

Modelling, Simulation, and Control, Optimization, Energy Systems

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Thomas Haas

PhD Researcher

Large Eddy Simulation, Atmospheric Boundary Layer

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Hisham Eldeeb

PhD Researcher

Modelling, Simulation, and Control, Grid-Connected Converters, Power Electronics, Multi-Phase Drives

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Mahdi Ebrahimi Salari

PhD Researcher

Renewable Energy, Power System Dynamics, Electrical Machine Design, Power Electronics

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Jonas Koenemann

PhD Researcher

Optimal Control, Model Predictive Control, Dynamic Systems, Robotics, Reinforcement learning

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Paul Thedens

PhD Researcher

Finite Element Analysis, Structural Analysis, Aerodynamics

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Fabian Girrbach

PhD Researcher

3D Motion Tracking, Multi-Sensor Fusion, Robotics, Mechatronics

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Ashwin Candade

PhD Researcher

Modeling, simulation and testing of composite wings, Multidisciplinary design optimization, Knowledge-Based Systems, Aeroelasticity

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Eva Ahbe

PhD Researcher

Modelling, simulation, and control, Stability Verification, Robust Control

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Peter Listov

PhD Researcher

Nonlinear System Analysis, Nonlinear Model Predictive Control, Stochastic Estimation.

Principal Investigators

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Roland Schmehl

Associate Professor

Computational Fluid Dynamics, Fluid Structure Interaction, Aeroelasticity

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Moritz Diehl

Professor

Optimization and Control, Numerical Method Development, Embedded and Renewable Energy Systems.

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Sébastien Gros

Professor

Automatic Control, Optimal Control, Reinforcement Learning, Measurement-based optimization

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Johan Meyers

Professor

Turbulent Flows, LES and DNS, Flow Control and Optimization

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Christoph M. Hackl

Professor

Electrical Drive Systems, Power Electronics, Mechatronics, Renewable Energy Systems, Efficiency, Fault-tolerance

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Daniel Toal

Director

Renewable Energy Integration, Field Robotics for Challenging Environments

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Soeren Sieberling

Project Manager AP3

Flight control, Nonlinear Dynamic Inversion

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Stephan Brabeck

CEO and Co-Founder

Business Development, Kite-Based Propulsion

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Jeroen Hol

Senior Research Engineer

Sensor Fusion, Sensor Calibration, Signal Processing

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Alexander Bormann

CEO and Co-Founder

Business Development, Lightweight structures, Fatigue Dynamics

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Roy S. Smith

Professor

Identification and Control of Uncertain Systems, Stability Verification, Robust Control

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Colin N. Jones

Associate Professor

Optimization-Based Control, Predictive Control, Renewable Energy

Academic Staff and Senior Engineers

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Axelle Viré

Assistant Professor

Computational Fluid Dynamics, Fluid Structure Interaction, Floating Offshore Wind Energy

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Bernd Specht

Head Research & Development

Ram Air Kites, Membrane Structures

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Florian Bauer

PhD Researcher, Co-Founder

Drag power AWE Systems, Performance Optimization

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Joseph Coleman

Post-Doc

Autonomous Vehicles, Robotics, Control Systems

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Maximilian Ranneberg

Senior Research Engineer

Finite Element Analysis, Structural Analysis, Aerodynamics

Associated Researchers and PIs

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Markus Sommerfeld

PhD Researcher

Wind Resource Assessment, Performance Modeling

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Curran Crawford

Associate Professor

Wind and Tidal Turbines, Plug-in Hybrid Vehicles, Sustainable Energy Systems, Energy System Modeling

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Lode Carnel

CTO

Failure Mode and Effects Analysis, System Level Analysis, Renewable Energies

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Johannes Peschel

CEO and Co-Founder

Business startup, Software development

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Pietro Faggiani

Systems Engineer

System Level Modeling, System Operation

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Reinhart Paelinck

CEO and Founder

Collaborative Design, Problem Solving, 3D Modeling and Visualisation.

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Fort Felker

CEO

Wind Energy

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Mark Schelbergen

PhD Researcher

Wind Resource Assessment, Performance Modeling

Project Management

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Ni Yan

EU program coordinator

Multi-National Technology Research Projects, Project Coordination, Project Management

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Alwin Wink

Financial Administrator

International Business, Sustainability, Photography

Alumni

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Giovanni Licitra

Data Scientist

Data Science, General-purpose optimization, Machine Learning, Modeling, System Identification, Predictive Analytics

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Thanuja Rajasooriya

Research Engineer

Structural Design, Numerical Analysis

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Johannes Oehler

Researcher

Aerodynamic Measurement Techniques, Flexible Membrane Wings

Software

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AWEBox

A Python toolbox for modelling and optimal control of multiple-kite systems for airborne wind energy harvesting.

AWE-ERA5

A Python tool for downloading ERA5 reanalysis data and computing the resource potential of airborne wind energy.

mem4py

A Finite Element solver specifically developed for the deformation of membrane structures under aerodynamic load.

preCICE-MBDyn

A preCICE adapter to couple the open source multibody solver MBDyn with a variety of other simulation tools.

openKITE

A ROS package for simulation, estimation and control of rigid-wing airborne wind energy systems.

AWE-tool

Computes properties of a kite flying in crosswind conditions: flight velocity, apparent wind velocity, tether force, generated power, …

openAWE

A Matlab and Octave library for modelling and optimization the operation of airborne wind energy systems.

AWEBox

Open Optimal Control Library for Matlab. Model-predictive control (MPC) and trajectory optimization software.

Data

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AWE-ERA5

A subset of ERA5 reanalysis data for Europe for computing the resource potential of airborne wind energy.

AWE-LES

Time-resolved three-dimensional wind field data computed with the pseudo-spectral Large-Eddy Simulation software SP-Wind.

Kitepower-24-03-2017

Flight test data of a kite power system acquired by sensors on wing, suspended kite control unit and ground station.

Recent & Upcoming Talks

Airborne Wind Energy - R&D status & outstanding challenges

AWESome potential - Airborne wind energy’s opportunities and challenges

Advancing Airborne Wind Energy Technologies by Systematic Research and Development

Recent AWESCO Publications

Quickly discover relevant content by filtering publications.

Airborne wind energy (AWE) systems typically harness energy in an altitude range up to 500 m above the ground. To estimate the annual …

Summary This paper presents PolyMPC, an open-source C++ library for pseudospectral-based real-time predictive control of nonlinear …

In this paper, we present an aero‐structural model of a tethered swept wing for airborne wind energy generation. The carbon composite …

In this paper, we applied a system identification algorithm and an adaptive controller to a simple kite system model to simulate …

Airborne wind energy (AWE) is a wind power technology that harvests energy at high altitudes. The performance of AWE systems relative …

In the Media

The 2019 American Control Conference (ACC), 10–12 July 2019 in Philadelphia, USA, includes a session Control of Airborne Wind …

Consortium

Funded Beneficiaries

image/svg+xml Belgium Germany Ireland Netherlands Sweden go to: University of Limerick go to: Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne (EPFL) go to: University of Leuven (KU Leuven) go to: Skysails GmbH go to: Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich (ETH Zurich) go to: EnerKite GmbH go to: Ampyx Power B.V. go to: Delft University of Technology (TU Delft) go to: Xsens Technologies B.V. go to: University of Freiburg go to: Chalmers University of Technology go to: Technical University of Munich (TUM) go to: Munich University of Applied Sciences (MUAS)
The complete worldwide AWE R&D landscape is shown here.

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The TU Delft is the oldest and largest technical university of the Netherlands. According to the 2019 QS World University Rankings it is among the top 20 universities for engineering and technology. It is the highest ranked university of the country.

The Albert Ludwig University of Freiburg is among Europe’s top universities, having been home to some of Europe’s greatest minds during almost six centuries of excellence.

Chalmers is a major technical university in Scandinavia, hosting eight Areas of Advance and is the largest recipient of the Energy Initiative in Sweden. It is an international leader in the field of sustainable energy.

The University of Leuven has been a center of learning for nearly six centuries. It is one of the most renowned universities in Europe, with a strong research orientation. Since 2016 Thomson Reuters ranks it as Europe’s most innovative university.

The TU Munich (TUM) was ranked as the best German university by the 2020 QS World University Ranking. It is one of the largest technical universities of the country and one of the five best technical universities in Europe.

Established in 1972, the University of Limerick is an independent, internationally focussed university with over 13,000 students and 1,500 staff. It was the first university established since Irish independence.

Ampyx Power was founded in 2008 as a spin off from TU Delft, developing an AWE system based on rigid wing technology. The commercial goal of the company is energy generation on utility scale.

Skysails GmbH is the market and technology leader in the field of automated towing kite systems. Since 2001, the company has developed propulsion kites of up to 400 m² wing surface area for ship propulsion and energy production purposes.

Xsens is a leading innovator of 3D motion capture products based on miniature MEMS inertial sensor technology. Core innovations are multi-sensor data fusion algorithms for seamless interaction between physical and digital worlds.

Established in 2010, Enerkíte is a spin off from TU Berlin and University of Stuttgart. Aiming first at flexible membrane wing technology, the company is now developing a swept, rigid wing that is controlled by several winches on the ground.

The Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich is one of the world’s leading universities for technology and the natural sciences. The 2018 QS World University Rankings places EPFL on position 12 in the world across all fields.

The Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne is Europe’s most cosmopolitan technical university. The 2018 QS World University Ranking places EPFL on position 12 in the world across all fields.

The Munich University of Applied Sciences, was founded in 1971 and is the largest University of Applied Sciences in Bavaria with about 17,800 students.

Partners

Secondments and Collaboration

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Makani is a leading industrial developer of airborne wind energy.

The University of Victoria (UVic) is a public comprehensive research university located in British Columbia, Canada. Tracing its roots back to 1903, UVic is the oldest post-secondary institution in British Columbia With an annual research budget of over $100 million.

The spin-off from Delft University of Technology is a leading commercial developer for mobile airborne wind energy systems based on flexible wing technology.

Originally designed for ship traction, the company is exploring the use for electricity generation.

Norwegian developer.

A spin-off from the University of Freiburg.

Contact

  • +31 15 278 5318
  • Faculty of Aerospace Engineering, Delft University of Technology, Kluyverweg 1, 2629 HS Delft, The Netherlands
  • DM Me