An energy producing kite

Kites do seem to have a cost advantage over turbines. One proposal was to work a pair of kites as an opposed pair. This means as the wind reels one kite out it's partner is reeled in. By feathering the kite being reeled in you get net power production.
The benefits in comparison are much lower material and production cost, and the ability to fly higher than turbines, where the wind is stronger and more reliable.
 
I look forward to seeing how reliable this system is when the wind stops. With a conventional wind turbine, it just stops spinning. With this this, it falls out of the sky. Presumably it gets reeled in, but at some point in the process it will have to either land or dock with something.

Additionally, as the wind shifts direction this thing will swing around the sky. It will chew up a good deal of 3D real estate, possibly making it difficult to locate one of these near other sizable structures... like other kites.
 
Good whip antenna? With wind shear you can have them pull one another perhaps
 
As you want to fly high where the winds are stronger, the main constraint is freedom from commercial avaition, so you need a no-fly zone up to your maximum height. Many power stations, particularly nuclear, already have this, and they obviously have good grid connections. Docking is probably more of an issue when the wind is too strong as landing when the wind drops is well understood. The power kite users (e.g. kite surfers) were a useful source of flying strategies when consitions were variable.
 
OliverSedlacek said:
Kites do seem to have a cost advantage over turbines. One proposal was to work a pair of kites as an opposed pair. This means as the wind reels one kite out it's partner is reeled in. By feathering the kite being reeled in you get net power production.
The benefits in comparison are much lower material and production cost, and the ability to fly higher than turbines, where the wind is stronger and more reliable.
Click to expand...

Think these are the people you're referring to. Kite Power Solutions in the UK. They went bust but a Norwegian company has bought the IP.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yiqW_YlX9uA


http://www.kps.energy/
 
When does a kite become a glider?
Or does the fact it's tethered automatically make it a kite?
 
shedofdread said:
There's this thing - uses 'dynamic soaring' to extract the energy. I make no comment as to its practicality but I do find dynamic soaring interesting...

https://www.kitemill.com/
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=42&v=vfBceLa3pvQ&feature=emb_title
Click to expand...
I remember reading about dynamic soaring in New Scientist a few years ago and I found it fascinating. Don't see it being an efficient way of producing electricity but you could make a UAV/drone with indefinite endurance.
 
OliverSedlacek said:
I remember reading about dynamic soaring in New Scientist a few years ago and I found it fascinating. Don't see it being an efficient way of producing electricity but you could make a UAV/drone with indefinite endurance.
Click to expand...
As an aerospace old timer, I fondly remember from my youthful days that Dynamic Soaring was the tagline of the DynaSoar X-20 concept, see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_X-20_Dyna-Soar, well over six decades ago, so move over, new scientist, if you will.
 

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