“One entrant trying to put AWE to market is the appropriately named Kitepower. This year, the Netherlands-based company will begin shipping its first system: the 40-kilowatt Hawk. Far from replacing traditional turbines, Kitepower hopes the Hawk can power sites that might turn to polluting diesel generators: temporary microgrids, for instance, or remote locations removed from the main grid.
Additionally, the Hawk comes attached to a 400-kilowatt-hour battery: crucial for energy storage, especially in the isolated areas that Kitepower is targeting.
Kitepower believes that the Hawk is ideal for temporary events or users removed from the main grid: farms, construction sites, music festivals, humanitarian efforts, island communities. The entire system fits into a standard shipping container, and Kitepower says assembly at a new site takes less than 24 hours.
Today, these locations might rely on a diesel generator—whose logistical demands make the Hawk cost-competitive, according to Schmehl. “You need to bring the fuel—that drives the electricity generation prices to very high numbers, depending on the location,” he says…”
https://spectrum.ieee.org/micro-wind-power-kitepower
I think there’s a ton of uses for a system like this – like those mentioned in the article. Using different tech for different applications is key.
After Google’s Makani bailed Can Kitepower Make It Big?
byu/ZunderBuss inenergy