Kites & Airborne Wind

While all proponents of novel wind systems are emotionally invested in their favorite concept, the advocates of kites and “airborne wind energy” are the most vociferous. It’s as if they’ve swallowed some magical kool-aid that gives them rabid powers to see the promise of kites and other airborne wind schemes and any who question them as part of a global conspiracy to stop them from achieving the future they deem their due. Because of this, and their ability to raise money from otherwise sharp people, I devoted a small section of my 2016 book Wind Energy for the Rest of Us to kites and their offspring as excerpted below.

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Airborne Wind Energy: It’s All Platypuses Instead Of Cheetahs

By

Michael Barnard

March 3, 2014 — Kite-based wind generation was first proposed in the 1940s, the seminal power potential paper was published in 1980 and it was first demonstrated in 1986. So why isn’t there a single production system or even an a quarter-scale production prototype in existence today?

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Airborne Wind Energy Systems (Kites)

By

Paul Gipe

With the exception of FloDesign/Ogin, shrouded turbines have fallen out of favor with inventors as well as the media. The buzz in 2013 was all about kites or as their promoters prefer to call them Airborne Wind Energy Systems (AWES). Likewise, seed capital for new wind energy inventions has shifted from DOE to Silicon Valley with Google’s investment in Makani’s flying wind turbine.

Kite Flight Records

By

Paul Gipe

The world record for the longest ‘kite fly’ is 180 hours.

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Sky Sails, Traction Kites, and World Record Holder

By

Paul Gipe

Ron Swenson, an old hand at solar and electric vehicles reached out to me after I mentioned Sky Sails when I railed against a thoughtless article in the Guardian about a bladeless wind turbine. Turns out Swenson is also an old hand at competitive sailing too.

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Airborne Wind Energy Company Closes Shop, Opens Patents

By

Mark Anderson

This week, a 13-year experiment in harnessing wind power using kites and modified gliders finally closes down for good.

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Google applies for wind-assisted propulsion patent using Makani kite

By

Paul Gipe

Makani Airborne Wind Energy Turbine (AWT) hasn’t been in the news lately. They arrived in a flurry of press in 2013 as the next big thing from Google. The device is a powered kite tethered to the ground or in this new application to a ship. The device is a powered kite tethered to the ground or in this new application to a ship.

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