A kiteboard wing can generate 12 kilowatts of power as it pulls lines off a drum with a generator.
WindLift, a start-up located in Durham, North Carolina, is working on a way to supplement mobile diesel generators in places where the fuel is especially costly. But there's no turbine here. Rather, the company's airborne wind energy system taps higher-altitude breezes using a large kite.
Airborne Wind Energy unleashes the blade, or wing, of a turbine from its fixed structure and allows it to fly. With flight comes the ability to sweep large areas of the sky to capture significantly more of the wind’s power.
Windlift has developed systems that use AWE to access winds at the same height as the largest of conventional wind turbines without the costly structures required by a wind turbine.
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