Airborne wind energy (AWE) systems harness the stronger winds above the biggest wind turbines on earth. They use a small fraction of the materials and are quieter and more easily moved and commissioned so they have great potential for both off and on-grid use. The forthcoming Energy Harvesting and Storage conference at the IDTechEx Show! November 18-19 will cover these options and others, from mW for sensors to 100kW or more to charge electric vehicles, supply remote housing and so on.
For example, Thomas Harklau, Managing Director of Kitemill AS of Norway will be one of the international speakers. He will describe how his AWE project now focusses on tethered fix wing aircraft rather than the less controllable cloth kites. He says,
"Within the coming years, subsidies for renewable energy solutions (windmills and solar panels) are largely disappearing. The demand for clean energy sources is however increasing and, as such, cost competitiveness will be a key issue. Airborne wind energy has been identified as a promising second generation technology but there remain technical and commercial challenges for a wide deployment".
His paper will discuss the main technical characteristics and business strategy of the company as well as regulatory and certification aspects. For instance, Kitemill has permanent certification to operate at 1000 meters in Norway which is higher and windier than the height at which most alternative developments operate today. For more on the conference, exhibition, masterclasses and parallel conferences of relevance such as Electric Vehicles: Everything is Changing see www.EnergyHarvestingUSA.com 
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