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Harnessing High Altitude Wind Power

Posted by CowboyNeal on from the just-a-lot-of-air dept.

jakosc writes "The Economist has an interesting article about increasing the efficiency of wind-powered generators by turning them into flying wind farms. These tethered generators would harness high speed jet stream winds above 15,000 ft and in theory could give outputs of 40MW per generator (PDF). The developer's website has more details of some of the safety, technological, and economic issues."

7 of 132 comments (clear)

  1. Cessna Swatters by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    Won't someone please think of the Cessnas??!!

  2. Re:rather old news.. by Deadstick · · Score: 3, Funny

    It still is...and it's at the forefront of dupes too.

    rj

  3. Global warming by javilon · · Score: 2, Funny

    If we extract lots of energy from the wind that would make the atmosphere cooler I guess. So this would work against global warming in two fronts.

    --


    When his defense asked, "Which computer has Jon Johansen trespassed upon?" the answer was: "His own."
  4. It is simple by zoomshorts · · Score: 2, Funny

    No matter what you make wind powered stuff from, it will take MORE energy and resources to ever pay back the initial investment in time, materials and ecological drain !!! Same with solar et al. Do the analysis. Figure it out.

    You cannot even afford to produce pencils.

  5. This has potential... by rohar · · Score: 2, Funny
    ...to become an intermittent source of renewable power. They are probably doing the project harm with the "Potentially Our Cheapest Energy Source. We Don't Need Oil!" and "Key to Energy Independence and Arresting Global Warming" claims their website, but they do have something that could at least become a supplementary energy source. It's hard to tell if the PITA factor of managing these over a wind turbine on a fixed tower is worth the much higher output.

    This could make a great historical demonstration of Ben Franklin's lightning/kite experiment when lightning "improves" the efficiency of the system by finding the shortest path to ground by dropping 500MW for 1 sec down a 40MW cable. (Don't touch the key hanging on the end). The instant heating to 28,000C might also cause a few issues. Lightning can be formed in man circumstances, so watching out for cumulo nimbus clouds and pulling down the system isn't a sure bet.

    The only thing I could find on lightning in their information was in the pdf:

    "Generator and tether performance depend on a good lightning storm detection system. Surge protection schemes and hardening of the control systems are also under examination."

    I am a proponent of Open, Renewable and Baseload Reliable systems.

  6. It's all fun until mad scientists run amok... by NotQuiteReal · · Score: 4, Funny
    From the article: Dr Ockels's team is building a 100kW prototype...

    Is anyone else concerned that there will be a "Doc Ock" working with a high energy device?

    Of course, the anchor tether will have to be stronger than spider's silk, so there should be someone on hand to keep Doc Ock in check!

    --
    This issue is a bit more complicated than you think.
  7. Re:People with mod points will believe anything. by alienmole · · Score: 2, Funny

    I'm happen to be an expert in grammatical structures. Why would you doubted me?