High altitude wind power systems: A survey on flexible power kites

High altitude wind energy (HAWE) is a new field of renewable energy that has received an increasing attention during the last decade. Many solutions were proposed to harness this energy including the usage of kites, which were for a long time considered as child-toys. An overview on HAWE and its exploitation technologies is presented, followed by focusing on the the kite-based systems. Proposed structures and scenarios are presented, discussed and compared.