Dr. Roland Schmehl

• MSc in Mechanical Engineering from University of Karlsruhe (KIT)
• PhD in Fluid Dynamics from University of Karlsruhe (KIT)
• Studied & worked in Phoenix, AZ, and Los Angeles, CA
• PostDoc at European Space Agency (ESA)
• Software Architect at TNO Automotive Safety Solutions (now Siemens)
• Associate Professor at Aerospace Engineering, TU Delft
  
  
• More than 122 peer-reviewed publications
• NWO project NEON, EU projects AWESCO, REACH, MERIDIONAL and AWETRAIN
• Board of Directors Airborne Wind Europe, WP1 lead IEA Wind Task 48
• Co-Founder Kitepower
  
  
• Research areas:
  • Airborne wind energy, all aspects
  • Computational aeroelasticity and fluid-structure interaction

Dr. Daniele Ragni

• MSc in Thermo-Mechanical Engineering from Universitá Politecnica
  delle Marche, Ancona
• Researcher at German Aerospace Center (DLR), Göttingen
• Researcher at NLR and DNW, the Netherlands
• PhD in Aerospace Engineering from TU Delft
• Associate Professor at Aerospace Engineering, TU Delft
  
  
• NWO projects Sealant, THAMES, IPER-MAN
• EU projects ENODISE, SMART ANSWER, Herwingt
• ERC Consolidator Grant MORASINA
• Co-Founder Muteskin
  
  
• Main research areas:
  • Aeroacoustics
  • Noise from the interaction of rotors with airframe components

Oriol Cayon, MSc

• MSc (EWEM) in Aerospace Engineering from TU Delft
• MSc (EWEM) in Wind Energy from DTU
• PhD Candidate at Aerospace Engineering, TU Delft
  
  
• EU project MERIDIONAL
  
  
• Research areas:
  • Airborne wind energy, wind physics & flight dynamics of soft kites

Students

• MSc track Aerodynamics & Wind Energy (TU Delft Aerospace Engineering)
• MSc track Sustainable Energy Technology (4TU)
• MSc track Rotor Design (European Wind Energy Master EWEM)?
• Various other TU Delft MSc tracks that accept the course as elective
• PhD researchers as part of their Graduate School training

Course is followed by students from various engineering backgrounds

Not required is specialized aerospace engineering knowledge, but …
you should be familiar with fundamental mathematical and physical concepts

Scope

• AWE conversion concepts
• Key elements of AWE systems
• Potential & technical challenges
• Industrial developments & academic research
• Theory of tethered flight
• Performance estimation
• Wind resource at higher altitudes
• Scaling up & wind parks
• Economic assessment & markets
• Environmental footprint
• Legislation & certification
• Social acceptance
• Kite design
• Kite flight dynamics, aerodynamics & aeroelasticity

Course learning objectives

• Differentiate the working principles of AWE concepts (how)
• Understand the challenges and opportunities for AWE (why)
• Develop an overview of the AWE sector and understand what the different academic and industry players are working on (who & where)
• Identify the technology readiness level of AWE concepts (when)

Structure

• Lectures 1-3: From kites to airborne wind energy
  Introduce AWE, and present a historical perspective on kites, and a portfolio of current prototypes.
• Lectures 4-6: Physics of tethered flight
  Cover the physics of tethered flight and systematically develop a quasi-steady theory of energy harvesting with kites. A particular focus is on the quasi-steady flight condition.
• Lectures 7-10: Energy harvesting with kites
  Describe the practical operation of AWE systems and the performance and potential of the technology in the future energy system. This includes (lecture 8) a workshop in a Jupyter notebook (Python).
• Lectures 11-12: Kite design, aerodynamics and aero-structural dynamics
  Detail the flying components of AWE systems, with a focus on the flight dynamic, structural dynamic, and aerodynamic behavior.
• Lecture 13: Exam preparation

Each lecture takes 2 ✕ 45 minutes.

Schedule

• Lecture 1: 04-09-2026, 10:45-12:30, AE Hall E
• Lecture 2: 11-09-2026, 10:45-12:30, AE Hall E
• Lecture 3: 18-09-2026, 10:45-12:30, AE Hall E
• Lecture 4: 25-09-2026, 10:45-12:30, AE Hall E
• Lecture 5: 02-10-2026, 10:45-12:30, AE Hall E
• Lecture 6: 09-10-2026, 10:45-12:30, AE Hall E
• Lecture 7: 16-10-2026, 10:45-12:30, AE Hall E

Resources

Brightspace: AE4T40 Airborne Wind Energy (2026/27 Q1)

• Classroom lecture slides & video recordings + additional material
• Literature collection: book chapters and journal papers
• Exam collection: more than 11 years of exams with solutions

Airborne Wind Europe

Association of the airborne wind energy (AWE) sector, promoting the development and deployment of AWE Systems. Airborne Wind Europe encourages collaboration and exchange between technology developers, policy makers, research institutes and universities, as well as other stakeholders like public administration and authorities, suppliers, utilities, energy consumers, investors and financial institutions.

IEA Wind Task 48 “Airborne Wind Energy”

International co-operation of 11 countries and sponsor members that share information and research activities to advance wind energy deployment. Task 48 has four work packages on important aspects of airborne wind energy.

Social media

@kite_power
@rolandschmehl
@laddermill

• News about recent developments
• Photo and video footage from testing
• Documentaries

Internships & graduation projects

AWETRAIN: EU-funded Doctoral Network

• Marie Skłodowska-Curie Action in the EU Horizon Europe framework program
• Partners
  • Technical University of Denmark (DTU) - coordinator
  • Delft University of Technology (TU Delft)
  • Munich University of Applied Sciences (HM)
  • Politecnico di Milano (Polimi)
  • Kitemill AS
  • Kitepower BV
  • Airborne Wind Europe
    
    
• https://awetrain.eu

AWETRAIN: Research topics

1. The impact of unsteady atmospheric flows on AWE (DTU)
2. Robust operation of AWE in low and high wind speed conditions (Kitemill & DTU)
3. Robust autonomous control of an onboard generation AWE system (Polimi)
4. Fully autonomous AWE operation over long time horizons (Polimi)
5. Optimal scaling and clustering for AWE (TU Delft - AE)
6. Wind farm optimization and operation (Polimi)
7. AWE operation for grid serving behaviour (Kitepower & TU Delft)
8. Reliable and functional electrical systems for AWE (HM)
9. The mutual impact of AWE based plants on the electricity grid
10. The economic potential of AWE in the European electricity grid (DTU)
11. Strategies for AWE commercialisation (TU Delft - TPM)
12. Achieving technological legitimacy for AWE from both a local planning and broader social-political context (DTU)