The Hawk kite reportedly generates 30 kW and stores this wind-generated energy directly in a 400 kWh battery. “This makes renewable energy truly mobile and accessible to farming, building and island communities,” the Dutch company writes. The system is off-grid, easy to install, can produce power over day and night and is extremely efficient.
Power generation for mobile charging stations using kites is also the subject of a project by Volkswagen Group Charging and the Brandenburg-based company Enerkite. The duo describe the technology as follows: A so-called wing (a kind of flying kite) flies eight-shaped paths in the wind and pulls ropes from drums at a ground station with great force. A generator converts the rotation of the drums into electricity. The aim is to generate twice as much electricity as a wind turbine. EnerKite even speaks of the “highest energy yield of all green energy sources”.
EnerKite was founded by wind energy experts, aeronautical engineers and kite enthusiasts. The company currently employs more than 20 people around Berlin and has already received 3.5 million euros in funding from the European Commission and the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy.