Airborne Wind Energy (AWE) is a radical new concept to harness wind with the use of only a tether instead of a tower. Two main technological concepts can be distinguished:
[one-half-first]
Electricity generation in the air:
• Small wind turbines are mounted on the wings and are driven by the wind
• The electricity produced by the wind turbines is conducted to the ground through transmission lines woven into the tether
Electricity generation on the ground:
• Wing is flying in circles or lying figures of 8
• Wind produces pulling force on the tether. The tether is slowly unwound from a drum at the ground connected to a generator which produces electricity during unwinding
• At the end of the cycle the tether is quickly reeled in with the wing positioned for minimum drag