Tegel Airport in Berlin, Germany, has seen a steady stream of aircraft taking off for years, heading up into the sky over the German capital. But the airplanes went quiet.
When the airport finally closed, the long and wide runways that linked Berlin to the rest of the world were about to enter a completely new phase.
Instead, they were going to become part of the Urban Tech Republic, a test and development area for next-generation technologies.
Something else is now getting ready to take to the skies above the old airport. And it won’t look like the hundreds of wind turbines you see dotting the landscape miles from your home or floating far out in the ocean either.
An airborne energy system could soon be hovering above Berlin’s skyline again, bringing renewed focus to a strip of sky once occupied by commercial aviation.
A former airport is headed towards yet another change.
The idea is moving closer to reality
The EnerKíte and Tegel Projekt GmbH partnership announced plans last year to launch a demonstration of their airborne wind turbine at the Urban Tech Republic at the site of the old Tegel Airport. The plan calls for an operational start-up date of 2026.
Innovation, sustainability and urban technology have all become key components of Tegel’s future identity after a period of transformation.
While there have been many concepts explored on-site, there is one idea that has gained special attention, and it’s because this concept doesn’t want to stay grounded.
The project is designed to explore how winds above the city can be used to generate renewable energy. That ambitious goal sets this project apart from so many other renewable energy ventures.
According to the companies involved, the Tegel Project represents the world’s first planned airborne deployment of an airborne wind turbine in an urban environment.
The project raises some obvious questions
Wind energy comes in various sizes to meet various needs in different regions of the world. Yet, cities usually create barriers for larger-scale wind turbines due to space constraints and infrastructure density making large tower installations impractical.
This is essentially what makes the Tegel Project unique.
Instead of testing just another variation of a standard wind turbine, EnerKíte is planning to demonstrate a completely new method of generating wind power.
What will fly above the former airport? How does an airborne system convert wind into electricity? Why did engineers design an airborne system versus a traditional wind turbine?
June 2025 brought evidence that the airborne wind turbine project is becoming a reality, with EnerKíte revealing its brand-new ground station for the first time.
According to Invest in Berlin, EnerKíte said the ground station is a crucial part of the technology and a major step toward commercial deployment.
How will the flying wind turbine work?
The presentation also provided insight into how the airborne system works.
Unlike a traditional wind turbine mounted atop a fixed structure (tower), EnerKíte’s airborne technology uses automated control wings.
According to EnerKíte, the airborne system generates electricity from high-altitude winds, while ground-based energy conversion systems handle the conversion process.
The recently unveiled ground station provides the core element necessary for this process.
By combining an airborne wing with equipment on the ground, EnerKíte says the system could help expand access to wind energy while using relatively few resources.
The airport’s next chapter could look very different
The airborne wind turbine project at Tegel creates a previously unthought-of angle on the airport’s history.
Over many years, aircraft took off into the sky from Tegel Airport with countless travelers headed away from Berlin.
If everything goes according to plan, a very different type of flying machine will soon lift off from the same runway where thousands once departed, but it won’t be carrying any passengers.
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