Hohenbrunn, Germany, December 11, 2024: Kitekraft, whose mission is to enable the world's transition to 100% clean energy using renewable airborne wind power systems, won the 2024 Elektra Award for Power System Product of the Year, at a ceremony in London hosted by Electronics Weekly magazine.
Kitekraft’s flying turbines are ten times more efficient than today’s colossal stationary wind turbines, and with their smaller footprint and comparative ease of transport and assembly, are available at a fraction of the size and cost.
“We peeled off the most efficacious part of the turbine, which is the tip of the blade, and captured that using a kite,” said Dr. Florian Bauer, co-founder and CEO of Kitekraft. “In place of the blade roots, the tower and the foundation, we use a very thin and lightweight 800VDC tether that attaches to the kite so that it can maneuver in a figure-eight configuration to generate clean wind energy.”
The Kitekraft turbine consists of three main components: a ground station, a kite and a tether connecting the two. The tether is multi-functional, mechanically attaching the kite to the ground station, enabling power as well as data transmission through fiber optic cables. The ground station is connected to the grid or batteries to transmit or store power. It also serves as a landing platform for the kite.
To achieve such high efficiency, Kitekraft uses a 48V power delivery network with Vicor high power density, bidirectional power modules. The bidirectional BCM DC-DC converters allow Kitekraft to operate with power flowing bi-directionally at any time specified by the system’s electronic speed controller.
“The really cool thing about this is that we can simply connect all of this together using Vicor's off-the-shelf power modules,” Dr. Bauer said. “I think it’s safe to say that without Vicor we would not have been able to get into development as fast and cost-effectively as we have. It’s an honor to be selected for the Elektra award and to be recognized for our work in the renewable energy sector—something all of us at Kitekraft are passionate about.”
“Kitekraft’s flying wind turbine has delivered impressive results,” said David Krakauer, VP of the Industrial Business Unit, Vicor. “We are proud to support Kitekraft’s innovative approach to renewable energy generation, and we congratulate them on their Elektra award.”
About Vicor
Vicor Corporation designs, develops, manufactures and markets modular power components and complete power systems based upon a portfolio of patented technologies. Headquartered in Andover, Massachusetts, Vicor sells its products to the power systems market, including enterprise and high performance computing, industrial equipment and automation, telecommunications and network infrastructure, vehicles and transportation, aerospace and defense.
About Kitekraft
Kitekraft is developing advanced wind power systems: power-generating kites, a.k.a. flying wind turbines, that require 10xless construction material than a conventional wind turbine. A Kitekraft unit will generate electricity cleaner, almost invisible, and at least 50% cheaper than a conventional turbine of the same power rating, and eventually cheaper than any other alternative. Kitekraft builds flying wind turbines in the 100kWto multi-MW range, for both and off-grid applications and grid-scale energy production for utility companies.
KitekraftGmbH | Rudolf-Diesel-Str.26, 85521 Hohenbrunn, Germany | +49 89 92791994 | info@kitekraft.de
