High Altitude Wind Power Generation

Looking at the article on high altitude wind generation led to some pretty interesting companies. Some useful papers left one with the impression:

• that the kite approach could be deployed at a range of scales
• the components, excluding the control system, were readily understood by "folk" (kites have been around for a while)
• the lifecycle capital cost seemed reasonable
• energy density was nice

A demonstration using a kite more normally dragging a surfer, delivered useful power (40kW).

Another interesting article is here.