The windswept fields and gusty greens of Ireland’s County Mayo are perfect places for a kite or a glider, or, in the case of energy partners E.ON and Ampyx Power, a large flying wing tethered to a drum, which will drive an experimental, portable power-generating turbine.
While the notion seems a far-out concept, E.ON and Ampyx are setting up a €3-million test field near the rugged western Irish coast to build out airborne wind energy technologies. E.ON is a large German utility company. Ampyx is a startup Dutch engineering firm with a third-generation prototype on its hands.