Photo credit: Altaeros Energies
High-altitude winds could become an important renewable energy resource of the future. The potential is immense. The energy in the jet streams is 100 times the power used worldwide annually.
Massachusetts-based Altaeros Energies, an MIT spin-off, has just finished testing a 35-foot scale prototype of the Altaeros Airborne Wind Turbine (AWT). Adapted from the buoyant lift technology of traditional aerostats, a helium-filled inflatable fabric shell lifts the wind turbine to higher altitudes. Tethers hold the airborne system steady and send electricity down to the ground.
Extreme weather conditions are by far the biggest threat to an airborne wind turbine. Altaeros claims the directional stability of its AWT comes from the aerodynamic design of the shroud itself. The system will always point into the wind. When conditions get too turbulent, the system is designed to land and dock autonomously. “One of the exciting things about this concept is that we can actually bring the system down without interrupting the power production,” says Ben Glass, founder and CEO of Altaeros. The turbine still harvests wind power when docked on the ground.
The Altaeros AWT test flight hit several “key milestones for the airborne wind industry,” says Glass, its inventor. “We were able, without any human intervention, to launch the system, ascent, do a period of steady flight, descent and land and produce uninterrupted power throughout the entire cycle.” At 350 feet altitude, the airborne turbine produced twice the power than at the height of a conventional land-based tower.
As a clean energy startup, Altaeros is focused on developing a product for off-road applications that currently import expensive Diesel fuel. “Our first product will be 30 to 50 kilowatts, and will be for military or ultra-remote customers,” Glass says. He hopes to deploy the first functional system, which would fly at 1000 to 2000 feet, “in a couple of years from now.” Airborne wind turbines can be deployed over challenging terrain or offshore, opening up entirely new territories for harvesting clean energy.