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Airborne Wind Energy Converters (AWECs) are promising devices that, thanks to tethered airborne systems, are able to harvest energy of winds blowing at an altitude which is not reachable by traditional wind turbines. This paper is meant to provide an analysis and a preliminary evaluation of an AWEC installed on a floating offshore platform. A minimum complexity dynamic model is developed including a moored heaving platform coupled with the dynamics of an AWEC in steady crosswind flight. A numerical case study is presented through the analysis of different geometrical sizes for the platform and for the airborne components. The results show that offshore AWECs are theoretically viable and they may also be more efficient than grounded devices by taking advantage of a small amount of additionally harvested power from ocean waves. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Among novel technologies for producing electricity from renewable resources, a new class of wind energy converters has been conceived under the name of Airborne Wind Energy Systems (AWESs). This new generation of systems employs flying tethered wings or aircraft in order to reach winds blowing at atmosphere layers that are inaccessible by traditional wind turbines. Research on AWESs started in the mid seventies, with a rapid acceleration in the last decade. A number of systems based on radically different concepts have been analyzed and tested. Several prototypes have been developed all over the world and the results from early experiments are becoming available. This paper provides a review of the different technologies that have been conceived to harvest the energy of high-altitude winds, specifically including prototypes developed by universities and companies. A classification of such systems is proposed on the basis of their general layout and architecture. The focus is set on the hardware architecture of systems that have been demonstrated and tested in real scenarios. Promising solutions that are likely to be implemented in the close future are also considered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]