Latest news with #AndreiLuca
Malay Mail
04-08-2025
- Science
- Malay Mail
Flying kites to power islands? Dutch firm tests airborne wind in rural Ireland
BANGOR (Ireland), Aug 4 — On Ireland's blustery western seaboard researchers are gleefully flying giant kites — not for fun but in the hope of generating renewable electricity and sparking a 'revolution' in wind energy. 'We use a kite to capture the wind and a generator at the bottom of it that captures the power,' Padraic Doherty of Kitepower, the Dutch firm behind the venture, told AFP. At its test site in operation since September 2023 near the small town of Bangor Erris, the team transports the vast 60-square-metre kite from a hangar across the lunar-like bogland to a generator. The kite is then attached by a cable tether to the machine and acts like a 'yo-yo or fishing reel', Doherty said. 'It gets cast out and flies up, the tether pulls it back in, over and over again, creating energy,' he said, testing the kite's ropes and pulleys before a flight. The sparsely populated spot near the stormy Atlantic coast is the world's first designated airborne renewable energy test site. And although the idea is still small in scale, it could yet prove to be a mighty plan as Ireland seeks to cut its reliance on fossil fuels such as oil and gas. 'We are witnessing a revolution in wind energy,' said Andrei Luca, operations head at Kitepower, a zero-emissions energy solutions spin-off from the Delft University of Technology. 'It took nearly 25 years for wind turbines to evolve from 30 kilowatt prototypes to megawatt scale, and decades to offshore wind farms we see today,' he added. The system flies autonomously, driven by software developed at the university in the Netherlands, but Doherty acts as the kite's 'pilot' on the ground, monitoring its flight path for efficiency. The kite flies up around 400 metres and reels in to about 190 metres, generating around 30 kilowatts per hour for storage. The force spins 'like a dynamo on a bike', Doherty said, adding that 'it generates up to two and a half tonnes of force through each turn'. The electricity is stored in batteries, similar to solar photovoltaic systems, with the kite currently able to fully charge a 336 kilowatt per hour battery. 'That's a meaningful amount of energy, sufficient for powering a remote outpost, a small island, polar station, or even a construction site,' Luca said. 'Add additional kites and we can power a bigger island.' Chief Pilot Padraic Doherty and intern Jacob Hamilton prepare to launch one the Kitepower Kites at their launch site at Bangor Erris, Ireland on July 18 2025. — AFP pic 'Mobile, flexible' According to Doherty, a chief advantage of the kite system is its flexibility and swift start-up capability. 'We can set up in 24 hours and can bring it anywhere, it's super mobile, and doesn't need expensive, time- and energy-consuming turbine foundations to be built,' he said. A kite system is 'way less invasive on the landscape (than wind turbines), produces clean energy and doesn't need a supply chain of fuel to keep running', Luca added. During January's Storm Eowyn, which caused widespread and long-lasting power outages in Ireland, the system showed its value in Bangor Erris, according to Luca. 'Paired with a battery, it provided uninterrupted electricity before, during and after the storm,' he said. Ireland's wind energy sector has long been touted as full of potential. But progress on large-scale delivery of onshore and offshore turbines has been held up by planning delays and electricity grid capacity constraints. The Irish government has set ambitious targets for offshore wind energy to deliver 20 gigawatts of energy by 2040 and at least 37 gigawatts by 2050. In 2024, Irish wind farms provided around a third of the country's electricity according to Wind Energy Ireland (WEI), a lobby group for the sector. This compares to the UK where, according to trade association RenewableUK, wind energy from the country's combined wind farms first reached 20 gigawatts in November 2022. The ability of airborne wind energy (AWE) systems to harness high-altitude winds with relatively low infrastructure requirements 'makes them particularly suitable for remote, offshore or mobile applications,' Mahdi Salari, an AWE researcher at University College Cork, told AFP. But he said Kitepower would face challenges on 'regulation, safety, and system reliability'. Such technology however could plug gaps in places where 'land availability, costs or logistical constraints hinder the deployment of traditional wind turbines', Salari said. By the 2030s, he said: 'I expect AWE to contribute meaningfully to diversified, flexible and distributed renewable energy networks'. — AFP
Japan Times
04-08-2025
- Science
- Japan Times
'Let's go fly a kite': Capturing wind for clean energy in Ireland
On Ireland's blustery western seaboard, researchers are gleefully flying giant kites — not for fun but in the hope of generating renewable electricity and sparking a "revolution" in wind energy. "We use a kite to capture the wind and a generator at the bottom of it that captures the power," said Padraic Doherty of Kitepower, the Dutch firm behind the venture. At its test site in operation since September 2023 near the small town of Bangor Erris, the team transports the vast 60-square-meter kite from a hangar across the lunar-like bogland to a generator. The kite is then attached by a cable tether to the machine and acts like a "yo-yo or fishing reel," Doherty said. "It gets cast out and flies up, the tether pulls it back in, over and over again, creating energy," he said, testing the kite's ropes and pulleys before a flight. The sparsely populated spot near the stormy Atlantic coast is the world's first designated airborne renewable energy test site. And although the idea is still small in scale, it could yet prove to be a mighty plan as Ireland seeks to cut its reliance on fossil fuels such as oil and gas. "We are witnessing a revolution in wind energy," said Andrei Luca, operations head at Kitepower, a zero-emissions energy solutions spin-off from the Delft University of Technology. "It took nearly 25 years for wind turbines to evolve from 30 kilowatt prototypes to megawatt scale, and decades to offshore wind farms we see today," he added. The giant kite flies up around 400 meters and reels in to about 190 meters, generating around 30 kilowatts per hour for storage. | AFP-JIJI The system flies autonomously, driven by software developed at the university in the Netherlands, but Doherty acts as the kite's "pilot" on the ground, monitoring its flight path for efficiency. The kite flies up around 400 meters and reels in to about 190 meters, generating around 30 kilowatts per hour for storage. The force spins "like a dynamo on a bike," Doherty said, adding that "it generates up to two and a half tonnes of force through each turn." The electricity is stored in batteries, similar to solar photovoltaic systems, with the kite currently able to fully charge a 336 kilowatt per hour battery. "That's a meaningful amount of energy, sufficient for powering a remote outpost, a small island, polar station, or even a construction site," Luca said. "Add additional kites, and we can power a bigger island." According to Doherty, a chief advantage of the kite system is its flexibility and swift start-up capability. "We can set up in 24 hours and can bring it anywhere, it's super mobile, and doesn't need expensive, time- and energy-consuming turbine foundations to be built," he said. A kite system is "way less invasive on the landscape (than wind turbines), produces clean energy and doesn't need a supply chain of fuel to keep running," Luca added. During January's Storm Eowyn, which caused widespread and long-lasting power outages in Ireland, the system showed its value in Bangor Erris, according to Luca. "Paired with a battery, it provided uninterrupted electricity before, during and after the storm," he said. Ireland's wind energy sector has long been touted as full of potential. Doherty and intern Jacob Hamilton prepare to launch one the Kitepower Kites at their launch site at Bangor Erris, Ireland, on July 18. | AFP-JIJI But progress on large-scale delivery of onshore and offshore turbines has been held up by planning delays and electricity grid capacity constraints. The Irish government has set ambitious targets for offshore wind energy to deliver 20 gigawatts of energy by 2040 and at least 37 gigawatts by 2050. In 2024, Irish wind farms provided around a third of the country's electricity according to Wind Energy Ireland (WEI), a lobby group for the sector. This compares to the U.K. where, according to trade association RenewableUK, wind energy from the country's combined wind farms first reached 20 gigawatts in November 2022. The ability of airborne wind energy (AWE) systems to harness high-altitude winds with relatively low infrastructure requirements "makes them particularly suitable for remote, offshore or mobile applications," said Mahdi Salari, an AWE researcher at University College Cork. But he said Kitepower would face challenges on "regulation, safety, and system reliability." Such technology, however, could plug gaps in places where "land availability, costs or logistical constraints hinder the deployment of traditional wind turbines," Salari said. By the 2030s, he said: "I expect AWE to contribute meaningfully to diversified, flexible and distributed renewable energy networks."
Arab News
04-08-2025
- Business
- Arab News
'Let's go fly a kite': Capturing wind for clean energy in Ireland
BANGOR: On Ireland's blustery western seaboard researchers are gleefully flying giant kites — not for fun but in the hope of generating renewable electricity and sparking a 'revolution' in wind energy. 'We use a kite to capture the wind and a generator at the bottom of it that captures the power,' Padraic Doherty of Kitepower, the Dutch firm behind the venture, told AFP. At its test site in operation since September 2023 near the small town of Bangor Erris, the team transports the vast 60-square-meter (645,000-square-feet) kite from a hangar across the lunar-like bogland to a generator. The kite is then attached by a cable tether to the machine and acts like a 'yo-yo or fishing reel,' Doherty said. 'It gets cast out and flies up, the tether pulls it back in, over and over again, creating energy,' he said, testing the kite's ropes and pulleys before a flight. The sparsely populated spot near the stormy Atlantic coast is the world's first designated airborne renewable energy test site. And although the idea is still small in scale, it could yet prove to be a mighty plan as Ireland seeks to cut its reliance on fossil fuels such as oil and gas. 'We are witnessing a revolution in wind energy,' said Andrei Luca, operations head at Kitepower, a zero-emissions energy solutions spin-off from the Delft University of Technology. 'It took nearly 25 years for wind turbines to evolve from 30 kilowatt prototypes to megawatt scale, and decades to offshore wind farms we see today,' he added. The system flies autonomously, driven by software developed at the university in the Netherlands, but Doherty acts as the kite's 'pilot' on the ground, monitoring its flight path for efficiency. The kite flies up around 400 meters (1,300 feet) and reels in to about 190 meters, generating around 30 kilowatts for storage. The force spins 'like a dynamo on a bike,' Doherty said, adding that 'it generates up to two and a half tons of force through each turn.' The electricity is stored in batteries, similar to solar photovoltaic systems, with the kite currently able to fully charge a 336 kilowatt-hour (kWh) battery. 'That's a meaningful amount of energy, sufficient for powering a remote outpost, a small island, polar station, or even a construction site,' Luca said. 'Add additional kites and we can power a bigger island.' According to Doherty, a chief advantage of the kite system is its flexibility and swift start-up capability. 'We can set up in 24 hours and can bring it anywhere, it's super mobile, and doesn't need expensive, time- and energy-consuming turbine foundations to be built,' he said. A kite system is 'way less invasive on the landscape (than wind turbines), produces clean energy and doesn't need a supply chain of fuel to keep running,' Luca added. During January's Storm Eowyn, which caused widespread and long-lasting power outages in Ireland, the system showed its value in Bangor Erris, according to Luca. 'Paired with a battery, it provided uninterrupted electricity before, during and after the storm,' he said. Ireland's wind energy sector has long been touted as full of potential. But progress on large-scale delivery of onshore and offshore turbines has been held up by planning delays and electricity grid capacity constraints. The Irish government has set ambitious targets for offshore wind energy to deliver 20 gigawatts of energy by 2040 and at least 37 gigawatts by 2050. In 2024, Irish wind farms provided around a third of the country's electricity according to Wind Energy Ireland (WEI), a lobby group for the sector. This compares to the UK where, according to trade association RenewableUK, wind energy from the country's combined wind farms first reached 20 gigawatts in November 2022. The ability of airborne wind energy (AWE) systems to harness high-altitude winds with relatively low infrastructure requirements 'makes them particularly suitable for remote, offshore or mobile applications,' Mahdi Salari, an AWE researcher at University College Cork, told AFP. But he said Kitepower would face challenges on 'regulation, safety, and system reliability.' Such technology however could plug gaps in places where 'land availability, costs or logistical constraints hinder the deployment of traditional wind turbines,' Salari said. By the 2030s, he said: 'I expect AWE to contribute meaningfully to diversified, flexible and distributed renewable energy networks.'
Yahoo
04-08-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
'Let's go fly a kite': Capturing wind for clean energy in Ireland
On Ireland's blustery western seaboard researchers are gleefully flying giant kites -- not for fun but in the hope of generating renewable electricity and sparking a "revolution" in wind energy. "We use a kite to capture the wind and a generator at the bottom of it that captures the power," Padraic Doherty of Kitepower, the Dutch firm behind the venture, told AFP. At its test site in operation since September 2023 near the small town of Bangor Erris, the team transports the vast 60-square-metre (645,000-square-feet) kite from a hangar across the lunar-like bogland to a generator. The kite is then attached by a cable tether to the machine and acts like a "yo-yo or fishing reel", Doherty said. "It gets cast out and flies up, the tether pulls it back in, over and over again, creating energy," he said, testing the kite's ropes and pulleys before a flight. The sparsely populated spot near the stormy Atlantic coast is the world's first designated airborne renewable energy test site. And although the idea is still small in scale, it could yet prove to be a mighty plan as Ireland seeks to cut its reliance on fossil fuels such as oil and gas. "We are witnessing a revolution in wind energy," said Andrei Luca, operations head at Kitepower, a zero-emissions energy solutions spin-off from the Delft University of Technology. "It took nearly 25 years for wind turbines to evolve from 30 kilowatt prototypes to megawatt scale, and decades to offshore wind farms we see today," he added. The system flies autonomously, driven by software developed at the university in the Netherlands, but Doherty acts as the kite's "pilot" on the ground, monitoring its flight path for efficiency. The kite flies up around 400 metres (1,300 feet) and reels in to about 190 metres, generating around 30 kilowatts per hour for storage. The force spins "like a dynamo on a bike", Doherty said, adding that "it generates up to two and a half tonnes of force through each turn". The electricity is stored in batteries, similar to solar photovoltaic systems, with the kite currently able to fully charge a 336 kilowatt per hour battery. "That's a meaningful amount of energy, sufficient for powering a remote outpost, a small island, polar station, or even a construction site," Luca said. "Add additional kites and we can power a bigger island." - 'Mobile, flexible' - According to Doherty, a chief advantage of the kite system is its flexibility and swift start-up capability. "We can set up in 24 hours and can bring it anywhere, it's super mobile, and doesn't need expensive, time- and energy-consuming turbine foundations to be built," he said. A kite system is "way less invasive on the landscape (than wind turbines), produces clean energy and doesn't need a supply chain of fuel to keep running", Luca added. During January's Storm Eowyn, which caused widespread and long-lasting power outages in Ireland, the system showed its value in Bangor Erris, according to Luca. "Paired with a battery, it provided uninterrupted electricity before, during and after the storm," he said. Ireland's wind energy sector has long been touted as full of potential. But progress on large-scale delivery of onshore and offshore turbines has been held up by planning delays and electricity grid capacity constraints. The Irish government has set ambitious targets for offshore wind energy to deliver 20 gigawatts of energy by 2040 and at least 37 gigawatts by 2050. In 2024, Irish wind farms provided around a third of the country's electricity according to Wind Energy Ireland (WEI), a lobby group for the sector. This compares to the UK where, according to trade association RenewableUK, wind energy from the country's combined wind farms first reached 20 gigawatts in November 2022. The ability of airborne wind energy (AWE) systems to harness high-altitude winds with relatively low infrastructure requirements "makes them particularly suitable for remote, offshore or mobile applications," Mahdi Salari, an AWE researcher at University College Cork, told AFP. But he said Kitepower would face challenges on "regulation, safety, and system reliability". Such technology however could plug gaps in places where "land availability, costs or logistical constraints hinder the deployment of traditional wind turbines", Salari said. By the 2030s, he said: "I expect AWE to contribute meaningfully to diversified, flexible and distributed renewable energy networks". pmu/jkb/jwp/js/tc
RTÉ News
14-07-2025
- Science
- RTÉ News
Game changer: Mayo project uses kites to generate electricity
A project in Co Mayo is generating renewable electricity through the flying of kites, which its operator has described as a potential "game changer" in the wind energy sector. It is being conducted on a bogland just outside Bangor Erris, located on a landscape one might expect in a Star Wars. The site, which is the first designated airborne wind energy test site in the world is being operated by Kitepower, a zero emissions energy solutions spin-off from Delft University in the Netherlands. Kitepower's system employs a yo-yo effect, where a kite, measuring 60sq/m is flown at altitudes of up to 425m attached to a rope that is wound around a drum - which itself is connected to a ground-based generator. The kites can generate 2.5 to 4 tonnes of force on the tether. The pull from this force then rotates the ground-based drum at a high speed. This rotation then generates electricity that can be stored in a battery system for deployment wherever and whenever it is needed. The kites are flown using the knowledge and skills of kitesurfing professionals, combined with a highly specialised computerised GPS-guided steering system. They fly upwards repeatedly in a figure of eight pattern for periods of 45 seconds. The flight pattern is important because it forces the kites to behave like sails on a boat, maximising the pull of the wind to increase speed so electricity can be generated. After 45 seconds, the kites are levelled up so that the pull from the wind is momentarily minimised. This enables the tether to be wound back in, using only a fraction of the electricity generated when it was being spun out. The result is a net gain in renewable power at the simple cost of flying a kite. Then the cycle is repeated, again and again, potentially for hours on end. A single kite is currently capable of amassing up to 30 kilowatts of free electricity per hour that can be stored and used later. The entire system is housed in a 20ft container, making it highly mobile and deployable anywhere accessible by truck. It requires no heavy foundations or resource intensive towers, and it can be installed almost anywhere in less than 24 hours. The kites can produce electricity on cloudy days, rainy days and even at nighttime. Kitepower describes what it is doing in Co Mayo as a potential "game changer" in the wind energy sector. It said kites are twice as efficient as conventional wind turbines at capturing wind energy and can exploit high-altitude winds not accessible by traditional wind turbines. Head of Operations at Kitepower Andrei Luca said the kites are a useful, mobile, fun technology for delivering renewable energy to remote communities, islands, mini-grids and off-grid locations. "We are like grown up kids playing with kites and it has never been so much fun," he said. Mr Luca said Kitepower has "a vision to one day power islands and remote communities and inject renewable energy directly into the electricity grid". "The wind conditions on the west coast of Ireland allow us to push the limits of our system, making it more robust and reliable," he said. "If it works in Ireland, it will probably work all over the world," he added. Mr Luca said: "The testing we have done has helped us refine the system and launch a pilot project with our first commercial customer in the Netherlands - a construction company using the kite to charge electric trucks and excavators in a civil infrastructure project. "We are also planning to deploy multiple systems in an array configuration." He added that offshore deployment is the firm's "next major milestone", adding "Ireland again stands out as the ideal place for this, thanks to its research institutes and testing facilities". Kitepower's airborne renewable energy test site at Bangor Erris has been in operation since September 2023. It was developed with the support of Interreg, the European Regional Development Fund. The German owned renewable energy giant RWE and Mayo Council are also partners in the project.
