It’s unbelievable to know that an ordinary childhood pastime could cause such a breakthrough in renewable energy! Researchers from the Delft University Of Technology, Netherlands have made this come true after their success of flying a 10 square meter kite to a generator that could produce 10 kilowatts of power. All credits go to them for making free flying kites a major source to provide energy that could help all of us power our house.
The system at Laddermill use these flying patterns to maximize power the kites can generate. Estimating that they could generate power at less than 4p per kilowatt-hour, which is comparable to coal power and less than half the cost of electricity from wind turbines. Flying kites in a figure of eight pattern means the air flowing over them travels even faster than the wind speed. When a kite needs to be reeled in, it is angled so that it falls out of the sky like a glider, without the need for much power.
This invention is promising because kites are made out of inexpensive materials and can harness enormous amount of energy, as high altitude wind carries hundred times more energy than the ground. Also it’s easier to run a kite plant economically in comparison with a wind turbine which turns out to be an expensive deal and it’s brilliant that we are using energy supplies that are offered to us by nature itself. Future plans also include using a 50 kilowatt kite and a 100 megawatt array called the Laddermill that could potentially power 100,000 homes! However the project leader of Laddermill said that, the commercial systems could be operational within five years only if the money was made available; otherwise the technology would languish in the lab for a decade or more.
Via: Inhabitat
