Bas Lansdorp is the founder and director of Ampyx Power, a company testing a prototype of the PowerPlane, which itself is a machine to generate power from the wind at a lower cost than wind turbines. This novel way of generating wind energy works with tethered aircrafts. Ampyx Power has performed several successful test flights, and at the end of 2008 Bas left Delft University of Technology to found Ampyx Power together with colleague Richard Ruiterkamp.
“By the end of my talk, you will all be experts in wind energy”, Bas promises us. That ’s a big accomplishment in 7 minutes! Indeed it’s not that difficult. Illustrating the history of wind driven energy Bas starts with kites, a technique the famous Wright Brothers experimented with, too. What Ampyx does is flying a plane in patterns across the sky, so the tension in the cable is very high – then when they release the cable, energy comes out. Want to see a model? Bas showed a prototype on stage.
One of PowerPlane's advantages is the size: it's smaller than wind turbines!
Airborne wind energy systems have the advantage of tapping an almost constant wind at higher altitudes, without the expense of tower construction. Winds at higher altitudes are steadier, more persistent, and of higher velocity. Tapping the winds at higher altitudes therefore provides more power than ground based wind energy systems of similar dimensions. Airborne wind generators can be adjusted in height and position to maximize energy return, which is impossible with fixed tower-mounted wind generators. These factors predict a cheaper solution to wind energy production with conventional wind turbines.
As Bas said: “If we can make renewable energy at the same price of fossil energy, I say: why not?”
Further reading:
- speaker profile
- ampyx power
- Bas Lansdorp on LinkedIn
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