Airborne Wind Energy (AWE) is an emerging renewable energy technology that aims to replace the use of fossil fuels for energy production on an economical basis. A characteristic feature of the various AWE concepts is the use of tethered flying devices to access wind energy at higher altitudes where the wind is more consistent. Over the past decade the AWE scientific and industrial community has grown considerably. Several teams operate technology demonstrators in the electricity output range up to 80 kW. International Airborne Wind Energy Conferences have been held in Chico, CA, USA in 2009, in Stanford, CA, USA in 2010, in Leuven, Belgium in 2011, in Hampton, VA, USA in 2012, in Berlin, Germany in 2013 and in Delft, The Netherlands in 2015. The recent AWEC conferences had each about 250 participants.
The 7th Airborne Wind Energy Conference (AWEC 2017) will be held on 5-6 October 2017 at the Albert-Ludwigs University Freiburg, Germany, in the historic city center of Freiburg (Kollegiengebäude I, Platz der Universität 3, D-79098 Freiburg). AWEC 2017 is co-organized by the university together with the EU Marie Skłodowska-Curie Initial Training Network AWESCO and the Sustainability Center Freiburg.
The AWESCO project funds 14 PhD researchers at different places in in Europe to work on "Airborne Wind Energy System Modelling, Control and Optimisation”. It is coordinated by TU Delft, runs from 2015-2018, and has a total budget of €3.4 million that is provided by the European Union within Horizon 2020 and by the Swiss Federal Government.
More information can be found here: http://awec2017.com/