Thanks to MarcoG and team for continued
KGM-1 progress and updates. Qualenergia.IT's latest coverage nicely
captures the technology drama of an unstoppable small Italian AWE
player whose secret-sauce is true aviation culture, rather than the
failing venture-capital speculations of oversold contenders. Now would
be a good time for WoW to invest some remaining funds on this
best-of-Italy world-class AWE team.
https://www.qualenergia.it/articoli/un-nuovo-tentativo-italiano-per-leolico-ad-alta-quota/
=== machine translation ===
A new Italian attempt for high altitude wind power
Alessandro Codegoni
Exploiting the winds by hundreds or thousands of meters in height is
still a complex undertaking. In Italy a new project, KGM1, takes up the
concept of kite or wing connected to a generator. Objective is a
prototype that can overcome the weaknesses of this technology which,
even from various foreign investors, is considered very promising.
------------
One of the prototypes of the Hollywood characters is that of the hero
who despite being targeted by fate and the "bad guys", always finds the
strength to get up and fight, until he triumphs in the happy end.
We wish a similar happy end also to Marco Ghivarello, industrial
designer from Turin, owner of the GHIVA CAD Design, who decided to grab
and start again to wave one of the most battered flags of the world of
renewable energy, that of high altitude wind power, carrying on ,
almost by itself, a new project that, hopefully, will succeed in
overcoming the many weaknesses that have hitherto sank or delayed sine
die what, in appearance, was one of the most promising systems to
produce renewable energy.
As many will know with high altitude wind power means the exploitation
of winds to hundreds or thousands of meters in height, where, free from
the impediment of forests, mountains and other natural or artificial
obstacles, they expire with great power and, from certain heights up,
with continuity. All this with systems much lighter and less
conspicuous than those of normal wind towers.
To capture those winds we can not say that ideas are missing, which can
be divided into two categories: those that bring the electric generator
to the altitude, and those that leave the generator on the ground,
bringing to it the strength of the wind at altitude wings or kites.
In the first case the generators, connected to the ground with an
electric cable, are mounted on airships, as in the case of Magenn or
Altaeros, or on airplanes, as in the case of Makani Power, where the
aircraft starts as a ground helicopter, using the generators as motors,
and then use the high altitude wind to drive the generators connected
to the propellers.
In the second case, bringing the force of the winds down to a generator
on the ground is a light kite or a heavier rigid wing, which pulls a
cable connected to the generator, and then returns to the starting
point recalled back by a motor.
The examples are varied, one of the most recent is the Skyfish project
of Stratodynamics, a spinoff from NASA. But we Italians know much
better the Kitegen, the company of engineer Massimo Ippolito, who
created a prototype wind power system with kite, which, however, in
about ten years of development, has not yet managed to move to a
commercial phase.
Despite all this creativity and investment, as you know, wind energy
continues to be obtained in the world from "banal" turbines planted on
the ground, which catch the maximum wind at 100 meters in height, and
not from these plants much lighter and less impact on the landscape.
The alternative at high altitude seems so difficult to take off that it
seems impossible that someone else will try, for fear of getting
burned, and instead, as said, Ghivarello, who has decades of experience
in automotive and aeronautical design, as well as being a pilot of
glider and paragliding, and having worked with Kitegen for several
years, has announced his project, KGM1, which incorporates the concept
of kite or wing connected to a generator, but with some improvements
that, according to him, should avoid making him do the same end of the
predecessors.
«I have been working on this project since 2014, all at my expense and
of the team that has helped me so far, but I have recently obtained two
modest funding from companies that obviously believe in improvements to
the KGM1 project».
In particular KGM1 intends to intervene on three crucial aspects.
"First of all, we saw the classic 8-wheel trajectory, called Yo-Yo,
designed in the sky by kites for energy generation, designing a
different one, which offers many advantages in terms of production and
efficiency. We began to experiment in practice and will soon be the
subject of a master's thesis under the supervision of Prof. Lorenzo
Fagiano, of the Polytechnic of Milan, one of the leading experts in the
field. A first test conducted on the prototype generator, with a simple
commercial kite, showed that it is a realistically reproducible
trajectory ».
The other two main objectives are the construction of a generator that
is profoundly different from the conventional ones used today, which
makes the most of the new trajectory, and a new semi-rigid wing, which
will further increase flight control and efficiency.
«The whole project has as its guideline the maximum simplification of
each sub-system on board and on the ground, including control software,
so as to keep failures, maintenance and costs as low as possible, with
the aim of obtaining an increase in productivity in the exploitation of
the wind ".
On paper, everything is fine, but what are the goals really achieved?
"Meanwhile, we have applied for three Italian patents on just as many
innovations, as well as an international patent application, and this
is an essential step to give investors confidence. We then built a
first prototype, on which to perform flight tests and those of
motorization and software. To move to a complete prototype of 5-10 kW,
running with an automated control, will need 200 thousand euros, which
I hope we can gather from various investors or thanks to technological
accelerators. But whoever believes in this technology can also contact
us to invest directly. With those funds we can build a demonstrator
that, we estimate, will have a value of 10 million euros, as market
potential, for example as a generator for small off-grid communities ».
One thing that perplexes, however, is that KGM1, at least for now, is
expected to work at a maximum height of about 100 meters. So it can not
be said that it goes hunting for "high altitude" winds, renouncing
their power and continuity.
"Well, it's the same height as conventional wind turbines work, but
with our system the costs are a fraction of having a rotor tower.
Operating at that height also makes it much easier to use, interfering
less with air traffic. However the 100 meters of height, they are only
the first step ».
But, frankly, Ghivarello, you do not feel a little 'Davide against
Goliath: on the one hand she, with his projects in the cellar and a few
thousand euro in funding, and other companies structured and working
for years, as Makani, which has millions of dollars behind Google, or
Ampix Power.
"Well, they, too, despite substantial funding, do not seem to have
found a way for mass production, although, according to recent reports,
it seems that Makani is about to start selling energy, running its
offshore system. In any case, I believe that their approach is tainted
by the excessive complication of their motorized wings, by an excellent
efficiency in the exploitation of the wind and by the difficulty of
finding an insurance that covers their operations, for the risk that
tons of generators will end up in head to someone. If our simple and
light wing could only achieve their energy conversion efficiency, but
we hope to do better, considering that our costs are a fraction of
them, we would have already obtained an extremely competitive product ».
And basically, at the end, Goliath was beaten by David.
You might also be interested in:
Wind at high altitude, bet technologies
The high altitude wind power of KitePower
The energy from the waves continues its way also in Italy
Renewables, in Italy how are we going to research?
Ilva et al.: How to make the steel industry more sustainable
Tags: high altitude wind power, KGM1, kitegen, research and development
«I have been working on this project since 2014, all at my expense and
of the team that has helped me so far, but I have recently obtained two
modest funding from companies that obviously believe in improvements to
the KGM1 project».
In particular KGM1 intends to intervene on three crucial aspects.
"First of all, we saw the classic 8-wheel trajectory, called Yo-Yo,
designed in the sky by kites for energy generation, designing a
different one, which offers many advantages in terms of production and
efficiency. We began to experiment in practice and will soon be the
subject of a master's thesis under the supervision of Prof. Lorenzo
Fagiano, of the Polytechnic of Milan, one of the leading experts in the
field. A first test conducted on the prototype generator, with a simple
commercial kite, showed that it is a realistically reproducible
trajectory ».
The other two main objectives are the construction of a generator that
is profoundly different from the conventional ones used today, which
makes the most of the new trajectory, and a new semi-rigid wing, which
will further increase flight control and efficiency.
