Google Flying a Kite?

Google, a company that has long championed renewable energy,  is looking closely at the possibility of conventional wind farms with tall wind turbines being replaced by innovative floating turbines.

The possibility of air-borne devices to harness the wind is not new, but the fact that Google is now involved might give this fledgling arm of the wind power industry increased impetus and emphasis. Because the wind turbines are tethered 300 meters from the ground, they can tap into higher wind speeds, increasing the amount of energy produced and save on construction costs- particularly when compared to offshore wind farms that require expensive platforms and specialist maintenance ships. And perhaps up-in-the-sky wind turbines will be less unpopular than onshore wind farms?

Fitzgerald Peter google 300x2001 Google Flying a Kite?

Peter Fitzgerald, Google’s UK sales director (pictured above), said the turbines could help resolve the world’s energy crisis. He spoke at England’s famous Cheltenham Literature Festival.

“It is kind of out there. It is tethered, has wings and you go to high altitude flying around bringing energy. You have to spend a lot of money on steel and concrete to build these massive turbines and you can only do that in about 15 percent of the world where the wind is fast enough. Already you are getting double that amount of land where you can do it [with the tethered turbines]”.

Mr. Fitzgerald added that the company’s Google X department was continually working on “the next generation of big bets … the moonshots”- as he called them.

Floating wind turbine 300x1871 Google Flying a Kite?
The Project Loon team from Google launches a high-altitude balloon carrying electronic testing equipment into the skies above Dos Palos, Calif., July 26, 2013.

Mr. Fitzgerald also spoke about Project Loon, which uses balloons to bring internet access to remote areas. The balloons are equipped with internet-delivering technology and fly at high altitudes. He said:

“Using algorithms to try to figure out how to ride wind currents. There are so many parts of the world where if you put broadband in it is so expensive and it will take forever, but if you use balloons it is low cost and you can get hundreds of millions of people on the internet.”

While the world still derives only a relatively small per centage of its power from renewable sources, Google is trying to change all that. They are working on changing that by buying electricity directly from wind farms near their data centers. They’re also working with utility partners to find solutions that will make more renewable energy available for the company and for others.

Altaeros Energies wind turbines 300x1991 Google Flying a Kite?

Last year Google acquired Makani Power, a company renown for developing kite-like wind turbines (pictured below).

makani3 wind turbine 300x1991 Google Flying a Kite?

Skeptics say that the current airborne kite and balloon turbines just do not generate enough power from the wind to make them economically viable. They think that the good old standard three-bladed onshore or offshore wind turbines will be around for some time to come!