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At dawn, in the Alxa Desert, in the Chinese region of Inner Mongolia, a huge white structure began to rise above the horizon. It was not a balloon or a meteorological experiment: it was a 5,000 square meter kite, designed to generate electricity hundreds of meters high.

No blades. Last Wednesday, the test of what is the first Chinese national project dedicated to developing high-altitude wind energy took place. The kite, developed by China Energy Engineering Corporationwas raised with helium balloons to a height of about 300 meters before being successfully deployed. In addition to the gigantic main model, two additional 1,200 m² kites were tested.

According to Global Timesthe test consisted of fully deploying and retracting the kites, an essential step to validate their operation in real conditions. During the test, engineers measured the tension of the system and the aerodynamic behavior of the fabric to collect data that will be used to fine-tune the final design. Cao Lun, head of the national high-altitude wind power project, told Xinhua —cited by SCMP— that the test campaign will allow “the kite to be optimized and the foundations to be deployed to deploy the complete system and define its standards.”

A new energy frontier. Studies from the Carnegie Institution for Science They estimate that high altitude winds They contain enough energy to supply global demand more than 100 times. The reason is simple: in the upper layers of the atmosphere the winds are faster, more constant and more energetically dense.

Added to this is another decisive argument. According to CCTVkite systems can reduce land use by 95%, save 90% of the steel needed in a conventional wind farm and reduce the final cost per kilowatt-hour by around 30%. The potential is such that a single 10-megawatt system could power more than 10,000 homes a year, without towers weighing hundreds of tons or extensive foundations.

How do these kites work? The technology tested belongs to the category of terrestrial systems: the kite does not carry a generator in the air, but rather transmits its traction through a cable that moves a generator located on dry land. The process follows a mechanism of “shoot and collect”:

1. Helium balloons raise the kite to operating height.
2. The aerodynamic fabric unfolds and captures powerful winds.
3. The traction tightens the cable and rotates the generator.
4. To retract it, the kite adopts a posture of minimum resistance, reducing energy expenditure to a minimum.
5. The cycle repeats itself.

Someone came forward: Ireland. This time it was not China, as so many other times, but Ireland. The Dutch company Kitepower tested 60 m² kites capable of rising up to 425 meters, generating electricity through a figure-eight flight pattern—similar to kitesurfing—that maximizes traction. Each kite can produce up to 30 kW per hour.

However, the differences are notable because European kites are much smaller than Chinese ones, European systems stand out because they can be deployed without civil works. Furthermore, the European objective is to take these kites to islands and remote communities that today depend on diesel. On the other hand, the Asian giant seeks to feed entire cities from the heights.

Is the future of energy in the sky? If these giant kites manage to take off not only in tests, but in real production, we could be facing a new way of generating renewable energy: light, cheap, scalable and capable of using an almost infinite resource.

Perhaps, soon, wind farms will not be measured by the height of their towers, but by the size of the kites that fly through the sky.

Image | XinhuaNews

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