one of the main complaints about wind power is its intermittency--the wind doesn't blow all the time, and so (according to Sky Windpower), most wind farms are only operating at their peak capacity 19-35% of the time. The wind is much steadier at altitude, so you get even more advantage over ground-based wind power. A final advantage is ad-hoc generation: devices with a reasonably simple tether-system do not have to be permanently installed in one place, they could be trucked out to any location that needed them.
So flying kites for power may be a goer. Wonder what the visual and air traffic impacts are?
WorldChanging: Another World Is Here: It's a Bird, It's a Plane, It's Airborne Wind Power:
Filed in: generation, power, electricity, wind, intermittancy, environment
No comments:
Post a Comment