Financing strategies for Airbornewind energy

Abstract

The development and large-scale application of new technology will be a central element to meet the current challenges of the global energy system, such as accelerating climate change, concerns about future energy security, limited global energy access or deteriorating balances of payments. At the same time, the restructuring of the energy system has to happen at reasonable cost. Airborne wind energy (AWE) can play an important role in contributing to meet this challenge. Yet, despite the large potential of AWE, further financing will be required to establish commercial viability of the technology and enable its large-scale deployment. Drawing on the most recent literature as well as on a range of qualitative interviews among both CEOs of AWE companies and risk capital investors the article characterizes AWE from a financing perspective and sheds light on the potential barriers for attaining substantial risk capital. An understanding and the active management of the identified investment barriers offer AWE companies important toeholds to develop their financing strategies. Potential implications and current strategies in the industry are discussed in the article. © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2013.