# Reinforcement learning could help airborne wind energy take off
**URL:** https://discourse.julialang.org/t/reinforcement-learning-could-help-airborne-wind-energy-take-off/134965
**Category:** Offtopic
**Created:** [January 9, 2026, 3:34pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/reinforcement-learning-could-help-airborne-wind-energy-take-off/134965 "2026-01-09T15:34:13Z")
**Posts on this page:** 5
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@johnh](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/johnh)
#### Post date: [January 9, 2026, 3:34pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/reinforcement-learning-could-help-airborne-wind-energy-take-off/134965/1 "2026-01-09T15:34:13Z")
@ufechner7 Are you aware of this paper on using reinforcement learning for wind kites?
Is Julia being used here. There is not an obvious link to the code.
> **[Reinforcement learning could help airborne wind energy take off – Physics World](https://physicsworld.com/a/reinforcement-learning-could-help-airborne-wind-energy-take-off/)**
>
> Machine learning technique teaches power-generating kites to extract energy from turbulent airflows more effectively, boosting their efficiency
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### Author:  [@johnh](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/johnh)
#### Post date: [January 9, 2026, 3:34pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/reinforcement-learning-could-help-airborne-wind-energy-take-off/134965/2 "2026-01-09T15:34:43Z")
Paper here:
> **[Harvesting energy from turbulent winds with reinforcement learning](https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1209/0295-5075/ae1ce9)**
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> Harvesting energy from turbulent winds with reinforcement learning (a) , Basile, L., Berni, M. G., Celani, A.
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### Author:  [@ufechner7](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/ufechner7)
#### Post date: [January 9, 2026, 5:17pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/reinforcement-learning-could-help-airborne-wind-energy-take-off/134965/3 "2026-01-09T17:17:13Z")
No, I was not aware of this paper. It is very new.
Thanks for sharing! This year I will be working on airborne wind energy again, last year I was working on offshore wind.
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### Author:  [@langestefan](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/langestefan)
#### Post date: [January 9, 2026, 5:36pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/reinforcement-learning-could-help-airborne-wind-energy-take-off/134965/4 "2026-01-09T17:36:22Z")
Instead of reinforcement learning, why not use (stochastic) model predictive control? Wind turbine dynamics are well-defined, I’m not sure what part requires reinforcement learning.
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### Author:  [@ufechner7](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/ufechner7)
#### Post date: [January 9, 2026, 6:08pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/reinforcement-learning-could-help-airborne-wind-energy-take-off/134965/5 "2026-01-09T18:08:54Z")
> [@langestefan](#):
>
> Wind turbine dynamics
Airborne wind energy systems differ from wind turbines. They use one or more wings, connected to the ground by one or more tethers. The dynamics are not well-defined at all, but change constantly depending on the tether tension, the angle of attack, the height, the speed, the position in the wind window etc.
So reinforcement learning might make sense.
And yes, it is not needed. MPC also works, but lacks strong stability guarantees. Simple single- or dual-loop PID controllers also work when combined with nonlinear dynamic inversion. Many ways to achieve the goal.
But reinforcement learning is the most fancy approach these days.
See also: [Open Source AWE Simulation, Optimization and Control · GitHub](https://github.com/OpenSourceAWE)