European Innovation Council (EIC) pilot’s funded company Kitepower, whose focus is to develop the future generation of wind energy systems, welcomed Hendrik Hutting as part of their advisory board last month as enthusiastic investor and pioneering wind energy entrepreneur.
Henk Hutting is widely regarded as one of the founding fathers of the modern wind energy industry. In joining the spin-off from the TU Delft that became Kitepower, Hutting is entering the airborne wind energy industry and actively preparing its first commercialised system.
The contribution of Hutting finds the start-up at the right time: Kitepower is approaching the winter ahead with many technical milestones to reach and the opportunity to rely on Hutting’s capital investment as well as 38 years of experience in the renewable energy field, serve as precious help throughout the technological and commercial growth of the young AWE company.
At the moment Kitepower is confidently initiating the construction of a new 100kW ground station (GS3) and are closing in on continuous 1-week-long flight operations. The joint research carried by Kitepower B.V. and the TUD AWE research group will continue, and with the new research possibilities granted by the investment, technical challenges will continue to be addressed by the PhD and MSc research programmes.
Kitepower systems, also known as airborne wind energy systems, take only the best out of wind turbines and literally bring wind power to a higher level. Unlike conventional wind turbines, a Kitepower system does not require resource intensive towers or heavy foundations and is thus easy to transport and deploy.
For more information, check Kitepower’s website.
DISCLAIMER: This information is provided in the interest of knowledge sharing and should not be interpreted as the official view of the European Commission, or any other organisation.