Ireland Tries Kites Instead of Windmills To Generate Electricity (www.rte.ie) 33
Longtime Slashdot reader piojo writes: Tired of windmills? Kitepower has deployed 60-square-meter kites to harvest wind energy on the western coast of Ireland. The giant kites fly in a figure-eight pattern, unspooling a tether to rotate a drum with 2.4 to 4 tons of force. When the tether has played out, the configuration of the kite is shifted to catch less wind and the tether is reeled back in. This mobile system fits in a 20-foot container and is targeted at remote locations.
Everything old is new again (Score:2)
This kind of system has been commercially available since at least 2010. It's been a "game changer" and "the next big thing" since the 1990s. In fact there have been, in my opinion, better implementations of the concept than this using two reels for more continuous generation.
Forgive my skepticism but the fact that we haven't seen more pilot projects like this, let alone full commercial deployment anywhere, really suggests there's something fundamentally lacking in this tech. I suspect that deployment and r
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I looked into it, and their design is clearly focused on a particular market: portable, tens of kilowatts scale generation. Because the system only has the footprint of a large trailer, it can be deployed more widely, or where land is at a premium. The example they give is farms that want to produce power but don't want to dedicate as much space as is required for solar panels in that power output range.
What they don't mention is how it compares to a fixed wind turbine, for customers like farmers who can in
Re:Everything old is new again (Score:5, Insightful)
> The example they give is farms that want to produce power but don't want to dedicate as much space as is required for solar panels in that power output range.
A few problems with that, though; 10kw worth of solar is not that much space. 10kw is barely enough to part a tractor under.
Sure the winch and *folded* airfoil is compact, but so is a stack of solar panels. You can install solar panels on racking - also very compact when knocked down for transport - and do stuff underneath them. You probably need a reasonably large exclusion zone around the winch because you'll have a steel cable under several tons of tension whipping around unpredictably. You'll need to be clear of buildings, overhead utilities, and trees for several hundred feet at least I reckon in case the kite dips low too fast to be reeled in safely.
Okay the airfoil works at night and on cloudy days... is this not for temporary power though? You still need a storage system too, and the system is not self-restarting. They do not mention how they get the kite aloft in the first place but traditionally they've used rockets, small aircraft, or lately drones to carry it up until the wind catches it.
=Smidge=
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I agree, it looks somewhat marginal as a product. It's very hard to compete with solar power. They claim they will have a 100kW version soon, but even so... The portability and near zero set up time are probably the biggest selling points.
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Probably the difficulty of connecting them to the grid. Most places there is paperwork to do, so they end up not being very temporary or agile.
It may be possible to improve the car parks with solar panels to use as shade, and the installation of some chargers.
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It's very hard to compete with solar power.
Yes but we are talking about Ireland here. That is not a country which gets a lot of sun on average. The figures I found was between 1,000 and 1,600 hours of sunshine per year. Spain on the other hand gets 2500 to 3000 hours per year. Wind and offshore wave power are more viable for Ireland.
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Looks like they claim 30kw for current product, and 100kw for an iteration coming soon, rather than 10kw. Also for 10kw, we are talking about 40 square meters of area, and the base station for these is about 20 square meters, and yes this is still comparing just the base station of one to total footprint of the other, and if we compared total deployed area, then solar *easily* wins in every factor except for all I know cost.
However while the total area may be pretty large, the area doesn't have to be as cl
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> However while the total area may be pretty large, the area doesn't have to be as cleared or denied sunlight
Agrivoltaics is a thing; Solar PV and crops sharing the land.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]
Meanwhile I still argue that the kite system will need an exclusion zone. On the ground for personnel safety, but also in potentially the air as structures above a certain height (on the order of 100 meters usually) require warning beacons for aircraft... I imagine something that will be airborne above 40
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Yes, it does need an exclusion zone, it is laid out in their page:
https://thekitepower.com/the-f... [thekitepower.com]
They also note that the flight zone can be used for multiple purposes, subject to limitations.
While Agrivoltaics is a thing, trying to discuss how much power output per area becomes tricky. They are splitting the sun between the crops and panels and so that ability to get 10kw in 40m2 becomes who knows how much more land depending on which approach is selected. It's just a statement that sparse panels might m
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Where "land is at a premium" implies a densely populated area and I find it difficult to believe flying a huge kite that can produce 4 tons of force as something that would be allowed in a highly populated area.
The kites have a cable that is over 400 meters long, that implies to me a 500 meter "no go zone" around it in case the kite loses lift and comes down. This brings to mind the hazards of barrage balloons from WW1 and WW2. They'd be a hazard to low flying aircraft, but then in the case of barrage bal
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You don't think that farm land is at a premium?
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You don't think that farm land is at a premium?
Not likely at enough of a premium to rule out utility scale solar power. Not yet anyway.
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I think the point was that with solar, that area can have bulidings or "I don't care about what's underneath", but it can't be deployed and have the land also be used for farming. In the kite scenario, the land can do double duty for some things, like agriculture, so long as you land and secure the airfoil during times when you want people in the flight zone.
So you give up 20m2 to get 100kw of wind power with a large 'no people should usually be here' area, but plants, sure. To do the same with solar, you
Re: Everything old is new again (Score:1)
and screwy electrical units. "Up to 30 kw per hour?" lolz!
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How many "homes for a year" does that equal?
Or maybe it reflects the intermittency of wind: one hour you're generating 30 kW, the next you're generating bupkis.
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As an electrical engineer I understand math is hard, but it still amuses me (saddens, really) every time I read an article and they present units that don't make sense. Sadly, it seems articles get it wrong more than the get it right.
In related news... (Score:2)
Ireland stopped burning coal for electricity: https://www.yahoo.com/news/ire... [yahoo.com]
Solar leads in EU electricity production for first time: https://www.yahoo.com/news/cha... [yahoo.com]
Vegetable oil backup power plant gets funded in Ireland: https://www.irishexaminer.com/... [irishexaminer.com]
The time Ireland said no to nuclear power: https://www.rte.ie/brainstorm/... [www.rte.ie]
Renewed interest in nuclear power across EU: https://www.nbcdfw.com/news/bu... [nbcdfw.com]
I find the idea of wind power by kites an interesting technology but I have many questions on how
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These are not for long term use, they are temporary installations, highly portable.
The output is max 30kW, with a 100kW version coming. Doubtless more expensive than solar and fixed wind turbines too, which is why their business model appears to be hiring them out for short term projects where significant amounts of power are needed in locations that are off-grid.
30 kW (Score:2)
30 kW is a very small car engine. Not a 20 tonne container.
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But also multiple houses' worth of typical consumption. Could be useful for something like a festival where they would traditionally have diesel generators on-site.
Its nothing new (Score:2)
Problems:
- Fragile
- Don't generate much power particularly during light winds.
- If the wind suddenly stops or changes direction your kite is wrecked.
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The article can refute all it wants given its just a journo regugitating the sales material.. In blustery conditions wind will frequently change direction due to vortexes both close to and away from the ground. There can also be downdrafts.
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And how does the kite get to this altitude where the winds can't suddenly stop?
In my experience flying small planes and gliders up to 10,000 feet, I've never flown at an altitude that the winds can't suddenly stop or change direction. It was especially important on long flights in the glider over flat landscapes that this was not the case. And I've never heard of anything lower than the jetstream where light winds were impossible, and I don't think these kites will get to 30,000 feet in their 45 second flig
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What Incentive? (Score:2)
Addressing a few luddite comments (Score:2)
The relaunch and control of the Kitepower system can be done remotely. The system is designed with automation and remote monitoring in mind, including:
Remote launch and flight control via software
Onboard sensors and autopilot for handling flight dynamics
Only minimal personnel needed on-site for setup, maintenance, or safety checks, not for daily operation
In normal conditions, relaunching after wind loss doesn’t require someone physically present—the software handles it, or it can be triggered re
Ah, the Irish (Score:2)
Ah the slashcode (Score:2)
African or European Kites? (Score:2)
How well do they take to the harness? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]
Old idea (Score:2)
Are they letting up kites to catch lightning to charge giant batteries?