Testing of a 500kW Kite Power Systems device is to get under way later this year in Scotland with the Glasgow-based company eyeing a 5MW array by 2019.
The company will test two 70 square metre kites attached to a single base station at West Freugh this summer.
If successful, it will deploy a 10-device array somewhere in the UK over the next two years with plans also at an early stage for a 3MW offshore deployment in the next decade.
The tests are partially financed by Shell, Eon and Schlumberger, and Kite Power Systems Business Development Director David Ainsworth is hopeful the trial will demonstrate the reliability of the technology which could attract more investors to commercial projects.
Ainsworth is speaking at All-Energy 2017 on Thursday during a session on offshore renewables at 1pm in the Lomond Auditorium.
“There are still technical hurdles we need to cross, but the long-term future of kite power is in deep-water offshore deployments, where it we believe it can generate subsidy-free energy,” Ainsworth told reNEWS.
Image: Kite Power Systems
Kite Power set for test flight
Two kites attached to a single base will be trailed in the summer
By EBS