{"id":36532,"date":"2026-09-10T07:55:50","date_gmt":"2026-09-10T11:55:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ecoportal.net\/en\/?p=36532"},"modified":"2026-09-10T07:55:50","modified_gmt":"2026-09-10T11:55:50","slug":"flying-wind-turbine-birds-insects","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ecoportal.net\/en\/flying-wind-turbine-birds-insects\/36532\/","title":{"rendered":"A German flying wind turbine is being taught to freeze in midair when birds get too close, and on big insect-migration days its safest move is simply to come home"},"content":{"rendered":"

A flying wind turbine being developed in Germany can respond to wildlife in ways traditional turbines cannot<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Developed by Kitekraft, the device flies high above the ground and functions like a kite. It has been created with environmental concerns in mind.<\/p>\n

If a bird approaches too closely to the turbine, it can react differently to potentially avoid a crash<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

This reaction is just one way the system differs from other designs.<\/p>\n

Engineers were still looking for a better solution<\/h2>\n

While Kitekraft is developing what they call a “flying energy system,”<\/strong> their product is also different from a typical turbine due to the number of materials used in construction.<\/p>\n

Kitekraft states that its airborne system requires roughly 10x less material to build than a traditional wind turbine with the same power rating. Additionally, since they require fewer materials, there are fewer carbon emissions generated by producing power through this method.<\/p>\n

They say this means they can transport them more easily as well<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Their team selected an aluminum boxplane for their configuration over options like a soft kite or a carbon fiber wing. Kitekraft claims the chosen aluminum boxplane configuration offers lower complexity, faster development, and improved scalability.<\/p>\n

The company plans to use the same basic configuration across products<\/strong> ranging from kilowatt-scale to megawatt-scale systems.<\/p>\n

Wildlife remained one of the biggest challenges<\/h2>\n

The primary challenge engineers face when developing any type of wind-energy technology is how animals interact with the equipment.<\/p>\n

Kitekraft<\/a> states that although it plans to implement multiple protective measures, birds and bats can still pose risks to<\/strong> both the aircraft and local ecosystems.<\/p>\n

To mitigate some of the risk, the system includes an optional camera system located at the ground station. The system will contain bird-detecting capabilities via artificial intelligence.<\/p>\n

When birds approach the aircraft or tethered cable, the system can take action if necessary<\/strong>. One option is for the aircraft to enter a hover mode, allowing birds to pass underneath before returning to normal operation.<\/p>\n

The entire system is designed to run autonomously utilizing onboard sensors and computers and therefore can react quickly to changes in the air, according to another report from Kitekraft<\/a>.<\/p>\n

At times, the safest move is simply to come home<\/h2>\n

There are many types of wildlife that pose risks to wind turbines. Insects are among the most difficult wildlife-related obstacles for engineers<\/a> designing new technologies.<\/p>\n

Kitekraft believes the overall impacts of its product will be comparable to those of traditional wind turbines.<\/p>\n

However, there may be times when insects become too abundant to avoid<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

For example, during certain times of the year, instead of continuing to attempt to collect electrical energy from the winds, the aircraft can choose to land.<\/p>\n

Landing the aircraft during such instances significantly decreases the likelihood of large numbers<\/strong> of insects colliding with the wings and rotor blades. It also prevents performance losses caused by insects accumulating on the aircraft.<\/p>\n

Therefore, one of the key advantages of Kitekraft’s design over traditional wind turbines lies within its ability to adapt to environmental conditions<\/a> such as insect migration patterns.<\/p>\n

Sometimes the weather gets the final say<\/h3>\n

In addition to adapting to various forms of wildlife, the system can also adapt to extreme weather conditions<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Unlike traditional wind turbines, which remain stationary no matter the weather conditions, Kitekraft’s aircraft is equipped with autonomous landing capabilities.<\/p>\n

As soon as the weather becomes too severe for safe operation, the aircraft can land safely and securely<\/strong> at its designated ground-station location until conditions improve.<\/p>\n

Ultimately, Kitekraft is working toward two goals.<\/p>\n

The company wants to create a wind-energy system that uses significantly less material<\/strong> than traditional wind turbines.<\/p>\n

It also wants a system that can adapt to changing environmental conditions<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A flying wind turbine being developed in Germany can respond to wildlife in ways traditional turbines cannot. Developed by Kitekraft, the device flies high above the ground and functions like a kite. It has been created with environmental concerns in mind. If a bird approaches too closely to the turbine, it can react differently to … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":27,"featured_media":36563,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rank_math_focus_keyword":"flying,turbine,technology","rank_math_title":"","rank_math_description":"A flying wind turbine being developed in Germany can react to wildlife, avoid bird collisions, and land during major insect migrations when conditions require.","footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-36532","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-energy"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ecoportal.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36532","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ecoportal.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ecoportal.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ecoportal.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/27"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ecoportal.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36532"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.ecoportal.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36532\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":36594,"href":"https:\/\/www.ecoportal.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36532\/revisions\/36594"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ecoportal.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/36563"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ecoportal.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36532"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ecoportal.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36532"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ecoportal.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36532"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}