Kite turbines generate more power

Top

Search EDI

Friday, June 11, 2010 at 11:27AM

A US firm is developing kite-based turbines that could generate nearly twice the power of traditional wind farms at a fraction of the cost.

Joby Energy in California is testing kites flying at an average height of 400m (1,300ft) – around five times the height of a ground-based turbine – where winds are faster and more consistent.

The first prototypes can produce up to 30kW of power, but the firm is developing a system that is designed provide between 300kW and 3MW – enough to supply up to 1,500 US homes. It hopes to begin manufacturing in 2012.

The modular kites can be built with five tons of material per MW produced, compared to nearly 100 tons for conventional wind turbines, giving them a capital cost of under $1 (£0.7) per watt.

Click here to continue reading

Reader Comments

There are no comments for this journal entry. To create a new comment, use the form below.

Post a New Comment

Enter your information below to add a new comment.

Author:

Author Email (optional):

Author URL (optional):

Post:

↓ | ↑

Some HTML allowed: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <code> <em> <i> <strike> <strong>

IMPORTANT: No advice is offered or given in this article or this publication. PLEASE ALWAYS REFER TO AN EXPERT before acting on any information contained in any of our stories.
Copyright © 2006-10, Blogertize Publications (http://www.blogertize.com), except as otherwise indicated. Text may be excerpted UNALTERED with FULL CREDIT and LINK. PHOTOS MAY NOT BE COPIED, DOWNLOADED OR REPRODUCED WITHOUT PERMISSION. Note: Some photos of real people may be models used to illustrate the editorial concept. MISSION: "You Need to Know" Our publications are daily online newspapers and magazines (webzines), plus delivered Ezines. Our stories also appear on various newswire services and are picked up in other publications. Our reporters and journalists break or report stories and their sources and source information are protected by the doctrine of free press as expressed in the First Amendment, Reporter's Privilege statutes, and also the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. COMMENTS FROM USERS: We invite dialogue and comments from our readers and limit moderation to obscenity and privacy issues, however WE ACCEPT NO RESPONSIBILITY WHATSOEVER FOR THIS CONTENT. We believe in the doctrine of FREE SPEECH. COMMENTS AND MOST STORIES ARE FROM OUTSIDE CONTRIBUTORS AND READERS AND NOT A REFLECTION OF THE OPINIONS OF THIS MAGAZINE. The opinions expressed by our writers, columnists and reporters are their opinions and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of this magazine, its writers and staff, or Blogertize Publications.TM - Our magazine names are trademarked. Our publications team provide this ezine and web site and its contents in good faith but makes no representations or warranties of any kind with respect to this web site or its contents. We disclaim any representations and warranties, whether express or implied, including, but not limited to warranties of any kind. In addition, we do not represent or warrant that the information accessible via this web site or the products or services sold or given free on it are accurate, complete or current. Errors and Omissions Excepted. By using/visiting this site you agree that use information herein is at your own risk. PRIVACY: SPAM POLICY: We do not use, nor do we condone the use of unsolicited bulk email. Our email system is an opt-in only. Please report any incidents of unsolicited email coming from or mentioning our domain to editor AT blogeritze.com. All matters will be investigated and dealt with promptly. Jurisdiction: Any action or dispute arising from the use of information on this site will be deemed to have been undertaken and concluded in Toronto, Canada and will be interpreted, construed and enforced in all respects in accordance with the laws of Canada and all parties thereto shall submit to the exclusive jurisdiction of the Ontario courts. A visitor agrees that the applicable law to be applied shall, in all cases, be that of the city of the web site owner, namely, Toronto, Canada.