Kitenergy S.r.l. Information

Our innovation converts High Altitude Wind Energy (HAWE) into electricity, by exploiting the flight of automatically controlled tethered kites. The power kites operate between 200-800 m above the ground, where wind power is 4x higher, more constant and with better global coverage than surface wind patterns used by current wind turbine technology. Electricity is generated at ground level by converting the traction forces acting on the tethers into mechanical and electrical power, using electrical generators. The combined effect of higher wind power density at altitude, increased energy efficiency (aka capacity factor) and smaller capital costs of a lean infrastructure equate to a very competitive economic performance. A first small scale prototype was built and operated successfully in 2010. A second larger prototype of 60 kW nominal power was realized at the end of 2012 and extensively tested between 2013 and 2017 delivering significant adherence of actual performance to theoretical figures. At the time of writing, a second pre-industrial prototype of this model is being tested to achieve the industrialization scale. Our team is recognized at international level as pioneer in this field and has been granted several top-level innovation awards from ENI, IEEE and is a founder and member of the Airborne Wind Energy Consortium. In 2017 Kitenergy has been awarded as Global Innovator during the Expo Live "Innovation Impact Programme" (Dubai Expo2020) and has received a Certificate of Appreciation “Our common future: Energy, Environment & Development” Expo 2017 Astana (Kazakhstan).