KiteGen
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KiteGen is a concept for a wind harnessing machine for high altitude winds, developed in
Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...
. The vertical axis rotation is intended to eliminate the static and dynamic problems that limit the size of conventional
wind turbine A wind turbine is a device that wind power, converts the kinetic energy of wind into electrical energy. , hundreds of thousands of list of most powerful wind turbines, large turbines, in installations known as wind farms, were generating over ...
s. The prototype STEM yo-yo is under construction at
Berzano di San Pietro Berzano di San Pietro is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Asti in the Italian region Piedmont, located about east of Turin and about northwest of Asti. Berzano di San Pietro borders the following municipalities: Albugnano, Aramen ...
in Italy.


History

The KiteGen was originally conceived by Italian researcher Massimo Ippolito. While observing kite surfers, Ippolito noticed the large amount of energy that the kite could collect and thought that a similar system could produce
electricity Electricity is the set of physical phenomena associated with the presence and motion of matter possessing an electric charge. Electricity is related to magnetism, both being part of the phenomenon of electromagnetism, as described by Maxwel ...
. This idea seemed so risky that Ippolito put it aside for years.


Structure

The problem of capturing the wind is solved by the use of Power Wing Profiles (
Power kite A power kite or traction kite is a large kite designed to provide significant pull to the user. Types The two most common forms are the foil, and the leading edge inflatable. There are also other less common types of power kite including rig ...
s) whose movements are controlled automatically by a
computer A computer is a machine that can be Computer programming, programmed to automatically Execution (computing), carry out sequences of arithmetic or logical operations (''computation''). Modern digital electronic computers can perform generic set ...
. The kites are tied by cables to a structure that rotates, generating electricity. This structure is the turbine, while the kites are the "blades". The kites are flown on a predetermined trajectory, that can transform the exerted force on the cable, to an overall mechanical torque which rotates the vertical axis turbine. About 20 automatically controlled kites can keep rotating a turbine of 1,600 meters diameter at a speed of 15 revolutions per hour. This can generate 1
Gigawatt The watt (symbol: W) is the unit of power or radiant flux in the International System of Units (SI), equal to 1 joule per second or 1 kg⋅m2⋅s−3. It is used to quantify the rate of energy transfer. The watt is named in honor ...
of power, equivalent to a medium size
nuclear power station A nuclear power plant (NPP), also known as a nuclear power station (NPS), nuclear generating station (NGS) or atomic power station (APS) is a thermal power station in which the heat source is a nuclear reactor. As is typical of thermal power st ...
but with an estimated capital cost 10 times lower. In other words, 1 cubic Km of sky is able to provide 1 GigaWatt of power for 80% of the time in a year. The long cables allows them to reach heights over 500 meters, where wind is strong, without introducing structural weaknesses.


High-altitude wind

There are two wind flow bands that envelope Earth. One is in the southern hemisphere at the latitude of
Patagonia Patagonia () is a geographical region that includes parts of Argentina and Chile at the southern end of South America. The region includes the southern section of the Andes mountain chain with lakes, fjords, temperate rainforests, and glaciers ...
, while the other is in the
northern hemisphere The Northern Hemisphere is the half of Earth that is north of the equator. For other planets in the Solar System, north is defined by humans as being in the same celestial sphere, celestial hemisphere relative to the invariable plane of the Solar ...
over
Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...
. The flow height ranges from 800 meters up to 10,000 meters, while the width is 4,000 or 5,000 km. The average power of the wind is about 2 kW per square meter. High-altitude wind is much more powerful and constant than that at earth level, which is intense in very few places, and at full speed for only about 1,700-1,800 hours per year, which limits the annual production of energy. KiteGen plans to use wind at around 800 meters altitude with average speeds of 7 m/s and specific power of 200 W/m^2. For example, a section of wind width of 1,000 meters at an altitude between 600 and 1,000 meters has a power of 400*1000*200 = 80 MW. The conceptual prototype in the
Province of Asti The province of Asti (; Piedmontese language, Piedmontese: ''provincia d'Ast'') is a Provinces of Italy, province in the Piedmont region of Italy. Its capital is the city of Asti. To the northwest it borders on the Metropolitan City of Turin; ...
which would work with nine generators and up to 10,000 m altitude would generate a
peak power ''Peak power'' refers to the maximum of the instantaneous power waveform, which, for a sine wave, is always twice the average power. For other waveforms, the relationship between peak power and average power is the peak-to-average power ratio (PAP ...
of 27 MW. A park of Kitegens with 100 MW peak power should produce 500 GWh/year; enough for 86,000 households The Kitegen can operate about 6000 hours per year.


Funding

In June 2006, KiteGen had been selected to receive public funding from the Italian Ministry for Economic Development. Although the project received a "priority B" score, the procedure evaluation was not done because of a lack of funds. Funding, performance evaluation, and capital adequacy is proceeding from the evaluator agency ( Sanpaolo-Intesa Bank). Under the 7th Framework Program of the
European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...
, an elaboration of the project within the transport sector was rated "excellent" and received €3 million in funding to create a system for generating electricity aboard ships, traction and management of ancillary services (proposal No. 218,691; acronym: "KitVes"). In November 2008, the European Union informed that the provision of funds will start "soon".


Mobilegen

In August 2006, a prototype named Mobilegen was tested. This was a
truck A truck or lorry is a motor vehicle designed to transport freight, carry specialized payloads, or perform other utilitarian work. Trucks vary greatly in size, power, and configuration, but the vast majority feature body-on-frame construct ...
mounted system which is mobile and uses the low-altitude wind. A mobile generator of the second generation was tested in September 2007 at Francesco Cappa airport located in
Casale Monferrato Casale Monferrato () is a town in the Piedmont region of Northwest Italy, northwestern Italy, in the province of Alessandria. It is situated about east of Turin on the right bank of the Po River, Po, where the river runs at the foot of the Montfe ...
(
Province of Alessandria The province of Alessandria (; ; in Piedmontese of Alessandria: ''provinsa ëd Lissändria'') is an Italian Provinces of Italy, province, with a population of some 425,000, which forms the southeastern part of the region of Piedmont. The prov ...
, Italy). The unit called KSU1 used a kite that flew to 800 meters with automatic controls. The experiments lasted three days and required special permits from civil and military aviation.


Aluminum smelter

In September 2012, KiteGen made an offer to the Government of Italy to power the
aluminium smelter Aluminium smelting is the process of extracting aluminium from its oxide, alumina, generally by the Hall-Héroult process. Alumina is extracted from the ore bauxite by means of the Bayer process at an List of alumina refineries, alumina refinery. ...
operated by
ALCOA Alcoa Corporation (an acronym for "Aluminum Company of America") is an American industrial corporation. It is the world's eighth-largest producer of aluminum. Alcoa conducts operations in 10 countries. Alcoa is a major producer of primary alu ...
in
Portoscuso Portoscuso (Portescusi in Sardinian) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of South Sardinia in the Italian region Sardinia, located about west of Cagliari and about northwest of Carbonia. The languages used here are Italian and Sard ...
. The plant is the biggest energy user in
Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...
with 2.3 Twh/year. KiteGen planned a farm of 200 generators in 1 square kilometer near the plant to generate 300 MW of power with
availability In reliability engineering, the term availability has the following meanings: * The degree to which a system, subsystem or equipment is in a specified operable and committable state at the start of a mission, when the mission is called for at ...
of 5000 hours per year. The costs of construction can be written off in nearly 2 years with energy costs around 30 €/Mwh. For comparison,
Glencore Glencore plc is an Anglo-Swiss Multinational corporation, multinational commodity trading and mining company with headquarters in Baar, Switzerland, Baar, Switzerland. Glencore's oil and gas headquarters are in London, London, England as well a ...
offer for the smelter want to relieve it only if the energy is cheaper than 37 €/Mwh by
state aid State aid in the European Union is the name given to a subsidy or any other aid provided by a government that distorts competition. Under European Union competition law, the term has a legal meaning, being any measure that demonstrates any of the ...
s because high power costs of nearby
Sulcis Sulcis (''Maurreddia'' or ''Meurreddia'' in Sardinian language) is a subregion of Sardinia, Italy, in the Province of South Sardinia. Languages spoken include Italian, Sardinian ( Campidanesu) and Ligurian (Tabarchino). Geographical extension ...
Coal Power Station A coal-fired power station or coal power plant is a thermal power station which burns coal to generate electricity. Worldwide there are about 2,500 coal-fired power stations, on average capable of generating a gigawatt each. They generate a ...
(around 70 €/Mwh) are the main reason for ALCOA to leave
Sardinia Sardinia ( ; ; ) is the Mediterranean islands#By area, second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after Sicily, and one of the Regions of Italy, twenty regions of Italy. It is located west of the Italian Peninsula, north of Tunisia an ...
.


See also

*
Airborne wind turbine An airborne wind turbine is a design concept for a wind turbine with a rotor supported in the air without a tower, thus benefiting from the higher velocity and persistence of wind at high altitudes, while avoiding the expense of tower constructi ...
*
Wind energy Wind power is the use of wind energy to generate useful work. Historically, wind power was used by sails, windmills and windpumps, but today it is mostly used to generate electricity. This article deals only with wind power for electricity ...
*
Renewable energy Renewable energy (also called green energy) is energy made from renewable resource, renewable natural resources that are replenished on a human lifetime, human timescale. The most widely used renewable energy types are solar energy, wind pow ...
*
Alternative energy Renewable energy (also called green energy) is energy made from renewable resource, renewable natural resources that are replenished on a human lifetime, human timescale. The most widely used renewable energy types are solar energy, wind pow ...
*
High altitude wind power Airborne wind energy (AWE) is the direct use or generation of wind energy by the use of aerodynamic or aerostatic lift devices. AWE technology is able to harvest high altitude winds, in contrast to wind turbines, which use a rotor mounted on a t ...
* Kite applications: Energy generation


References


External links


Site of KiteGen






* ttp://energykitesystems.net EnergyKiteSystems* ttp://ec.europa.eu/research/sd/conference/2009/presentations/15/mario_milanese_-_kitegen.pdf#view=fit&pagemode=none M. Milanese - Presentation of the KiteGen


Further reading

* Canale, Massimo, Lorenzo Fagiano, Mario Milanese, and Massimo Ippolito. ''KiteGen project: control as key technology for a quantum leap in wind energy generators'', In 2007 American Control Conference, pp. 3522-3528. IEEE, 2007. https://doi.org/10.1109/ACC.2007.4282697 * Vance, E. Wind power: High hopes. Nature 460, 564–566 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1038/460564a {{Wind power, state=expanded Airborne wind power