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Kite-Powered Generator

By John Farrier in Science & Tech on Oct 14, 2009 at 1:23 pm



Image: KiteGen Research

The Italian firm KiteGen Research is developing a generator that harnesses the wind through kites. As a kite flies into the air, it unspools a cord that cranks the turbine. Carina Storrs writes in Popular Science:

The company developed a prototype that flies 200-square-foot kites to altitudes of 2,600 feet, where wind streams are four times as strong as they are near ground-based wind turbines.

As the kite’s tether unspools, it spins an alternator that generates up to 40 kilowatts. Once the kite reaches its peak altitude, it collapses, and motors quickly reel it back in to restart the cycle. This spring, KiteGen started building a machine to fly a 1,500-square-foot kite, which it plans to finish by 2011, that could generate up to three megawatts—enough to power 9,000 homes.

Link | Company Website


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COMMENT
  1. whitcwa
    Oct 14th, 2009 at 5:55 pm

    Do you have to file a flight plan? Airplane safety aside, it seems like a good idea.

  2. Alex
    Oct 14th, 2009 at 8:43 pm

    Wouldn't the cranking back the spool to retract the kit expend more energy than the kite could possibly generate in the first place?

  3. Johnny Cat
    Oct 14th, 2009 at 9:30 pm

    Yeah, I'd add a hand crank to that retrieving the kite thing. It wouldn't be that hard, so then you could repeat the process over and over. Just add cheap labor, or in the case of post-apocalypse, the young, and generate away! :)

  4. Alex
    Oct 14th, 2009 at 9:52 pm

    So, how is that different or better than a windmill?

  5. Johnny Cat
    Oct 14th, 2009 at 10:13 pm

    Again, in post-apoc world, you don't want to draw attention to yourself, plus there's the potential for mobility with this design. May have to break camp and head to the mountains.

  6. Christophe
    Oct 14th, 2009 at 11:41 pm

    It's the same than a windmill : NIMBY!
    ;p

  7. MadMolecule
    Oct 15th, 2009 at 10:23 am

    I'm having trouble grasping how this is an improvemenet over a windmill. I suppose you could let the kite out, have it collapse, and then have a wind-powered device to reel it back in; but then why not just use the wind-driven device to generate all the energy in the first place?

  8. whitcwa
    Oct 15th, 2009 at 12:53 pm

    The advantage is that they fly "to altitudes of 2,600 feet, where wind streams are four times as strong as they are near ground-based wind turbines."
    The kite collapses when it reaches the end of its tether, so it is easier to rewind.
    What happens when the wind stops and the huge kite crashes at the end of a half mile tether?

  9. BamaChris
    Oct 16th, 2009 at 10:14 am

    This is cool. Technology is cool. Word

  10. DeLuxe
    Oct 17th, 2009 at 1:53 pm

    A 'laddermill' would even be better: it is fully wind driven (so yes, it's a modern version of the windmill. Only much bigger and much more energy efficient.

    http://www.lr.tudelft.nl/live/pagina.jsp?id=8d16d19a-e942-45aa-9b52-48 deb9312e92

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