Markus Sommerfeld

• PhD. Dipl.-Ing.
• PhD Student at University of Victoria

This study investigates the performance of pumping-mode ground-generation airborne wind energy systems (AWESs) by determining cyclical, feasible, power-optimal flight trajectories based on realistic vertical wind velocity profiles. These 10 min profiles, derived from mesoscale weather simulations at an offshore and an onshore site in Europe, are in...

While some airborne wind energy system (AWES) companies aim at small, temporary or remote off-grid markets, others aim at utility-scale, multi-megawatt integration into the electricity grid. This study investigates the scaling effects of single-wing, ground-generation AWESs from small- to utility-scale systems, subject to realistic 10 min, onshore...

While some Airborne Wind Energy System (AWES) companies aim at small-scale, temporary or remote off-grid markets, others aim to integrate utility-scale, multi-megawatt AWES into the electricity grid. This study investigates the scaling effects of single-wing, ground-generation AWESs from small to large-scale systems, subject to realistic 10-minute,...

Airborne wind energy systems (AWESs) aim to operate at altitudes well above conventional wind turbines (WTs) and harvest energy from stronger winds aloft. While multiple AWES concepts compete for entry into the market, this study focuses on ground-generation AWES. Various companies and researchers proposed power curve characterizations for AWES, bu...

Airborne wind energy systems (AWESs) aim to operate at altitudes above conventional wind turbines where reliable high-resolution wind data are scarce. Wind light detection and ranging (lidar) measurements and mesoscale models both have their advantages and disadvantages when assessing the wind resource at such heights. This study investigates wheth...

This study presents results from a parametric sizing study of ground-generation AWES. Several representative kite and tether sizes are defined to explore the AWES design space. We estimate average power, annual energy production and dynamic tether loads based on 10-minute modeled wind speed profiles for an onshore location in Northern Germany. Wind...

This study investigates the potential of filling LiDAR data gaps with simulated mesoscale model results,specifically WRF (Weather Research and Forecasting model). The goal is to improve wind speed timeseries and statistics, as well as increase resource assessment reliability.

The goal of this study is to estimate an ensemble ofannual energy production and dynamic tether loads of Airborne Wind Energy Systems (AWES) based on representative operational wind speed profiles. Wind speed profiles from mesoscale Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) simulations form the basis of this analysis,since continuous high resolution w...

Engineers and researchers working on the development of airborne wind energy systems (AWES) still rely on oversimplified wind speed approximations and coarsely sampled reanalysis data because of a lack of high‐resolution wind data at altitudes above 200 m. Ten‐minute average wind speed LiDAR measurements up to an altitude of 1100 m and data from ne...

Airborne wind energy systems (AWES) aim to operate at altitudes above conventional wind turbines where reliable high resolution wind data is scarce. Wind LiDAR measurements and mesoscale models both have their advantages and disadvantages when assessing the wind resource at such heights. This article investigates whether assimilating measurements i...

Airborne Wind Energy Systems (AWESs) are an emerging alternative to conventional wind turbines that harvest wind energy via tethered aircraft at altitudes unreachable to current wind energy technologies. Long-term, high resolution wind data is necessary to optimize the flight path and power production, design and size the aircraft, and ultimately e...

Analysis of high altitude LiDAR wind measurements up to an altitude of 1000 meters at Pritzwalk in northern Germany. See full presentation here: http://www.awec2017.com/2-uncategorised/96-markus-sommerfeld.html PDF on request.

High frequency wind data derived from LES simulations which are driven by results from mesoscalic WRF simulations for Pritzwalk in northern Germany. Comparison between WRF simulations with and without implementation of additional LiDAR measurements using observation nudging.

The presentation describes the process of implementing LiDAR measurements into a mesoscale weather model (WRF). These results then drive high resolution large eddy simulations (LES) in PALM. See the full presentation here: http://www.awec2017.com/2-uncategorised/54-markus-sommerfeld-2.html PDF on request.