Kitepower, a Dutch firm, is rigorously testing an innovative airborne wind energy (AWE) system at the world’s first designated AWE test site in Bangor Erris, Ireland. Operational since September 2023, this pioneering venture aims to revolutionize wind power generation by harnessing high-altitude winds with significantly less infrastructure than traditional turbines.

The system employs a vast 60-square-meter kite tethered to a ground-based generator, operating on a 'yo-yo' principle. As chief pilot Padraic Doherty explains, the kite ascends to approximately 400 meters, pulling the tether and spinning a generator, then reels back in to about 190 meters, repeating the cycle to continuously produce electricity. Each cycle can generate up to 2.5 tonnes of force, converting wind energy into approximately 30 kW of power, which is then stored in a 336 kWh battery system, akin to solar photovoltaic setups. This capacity is sufficient to power remote outposts, small islands, or construction sites, with the potential to scale up by adding more kites.

Andrei Luca, Kitepower’s operations head and a spin-off from Delft University of Technology, highlights the system’s transformative potential. He notes the rapid evolution of wind energy, drawing parallels to the decades it took for conventional turbines to reach megawatt scale. A key advantage of the Kitepower system is its exceptional mobility and rapid deployment capability; it can be set up within 24 hours and transported to diverse locations, negating the need for expensive, time-consuming turbine foundations. This makes it significantly less invasive on the landscape and eliminates the need for a fuel supply chain.

The system’s resilience was demonstrated during Ireland’s Storm Eowyn in January, where, paired with its battery, it provided uninterrupted electricity amidst widespread power outages. Ireland’s ambitious targets for offshore wind, aiming for 20 GW by 2040 and 37 GW by 2050, face hurdles like planning delays and grid capacity constraints. While Irish wind farms supplied approximately one-third of the country’s electricity in 2024, according to Wind Energy Ireland (WEI), the UK’s combined wind farms reached 20 GW in November 2022, indicating the scale of potential growth.

Mahdi Salari, an AWE researcher at University College Cork, emphasizes that AWE systems’ ability to harness high-altitude winds with minimal infrastructure makes them particularly suitable for remote, offshore, or mobile applications. However, Salari cautions that challenges remain in regulation, safety, and system reliability. Despite these hurdles, he anticipates that AWE will contribute meaningfully to diversified, flexible, and distributed renewable energy networks by the 2030s, especially in areas where traditional wind turbine deployment is hindered by land availability, costs, or logistical constraints.