SkySails Power: Technology of Airborne Wind Energy Systems

[@oisiaa]

This makes WAY more sense to put on ships as they demonstrated. Sailing ships (wind aided) need to make a comeback to reduce shippings emissions.

[@cjkenning]

@@jirisirek1701 I think a lot of shipping companies use very low grade fuel, high in pollutants and nitrous oxides. They do this because it is cheap, and most these companies are registered in tax havens that have no environmental laws, so they can happily polute away without consiquence. There will come a time when an alternative propulsion will become attractive enough for them to switch, but that time isn't yet...

[@heavyweather]

It is already used on ships. With the EROEI and the 5000+ full load hours onshore this also makes much sense for power.

[@felixhelix6171]

1:52 Had to double take, thought the progress bar was moving from "zoom" to "Boom"

[@urbanhesse6084]

My Dad had a name almost like yours

[@chris55top]

This isn't a set it and for get it device. The amount of maintenance for this would be crazy. Worn and torn kites and cables. Not to mention the pullies, cables and kites getting tangled. You would have to babysit these things none stop.

[@Ithzzz]

damn that sucks :/ so you worked with maintenace on this type of device ?

[@ehombane]

Till babysitting I want to know how the power is actually harnessed. Years ago when I saw this, ll they said it was that the kite makes 8s on the air. But I cannot fathom how the power is harnessed. Now they say that the power is harnessed while the kite is climbing. Yes that makes sense. But then when is dragged back the power consumed will be higher. they claim that is a fraction. Nonsense, unless the wind slows down, or the surface is decreased, or modify the shape to minimize the drag. I did not saw that. Dragging the ship may be possible. If the wind is in the right direction. With regular sails you can go sideways, and zigzagging actually go upwind, but this does not look like quite efficient. If would have been so efficient would have been kept since the wind is free and coal an later oil, was not. However, let imagine other universe with different physics laws where this thing is efficient. Imagine the nightmare of regulating the airspace :)

[@Awol991]

@@ehombane When the kite is zig-zagged back and forth it generates incredible pulling force, which would pull out the line. When the line is fully pulled out the kite is flown to a neutral position overhead where the pull generated is almost zero and the line is wound in. Kind of hard to visualize, but it is done by changing the angle of the kite's wing to the air flow. I have a two string kite like this (2m wide) in the zig-zag it can almost pull me into the air. Then overhead it takes no force all.

[@ehombane]

@@Awol991 Thanks, I understand it. So the 8 sign, or better said the infinite sign is not straight, but tilted, and on a half the pull is harder, and on other half not so hard, and then it is pulled back, it makes sense. Now all we need is to see the economical sense too. As a kid I invented a vertical turbine too. Seeing those project with S shaped wings I thought that the design may get improved. Thr cup part gets more drag than the other part, but the other one stil drag back. What if we make that part disappear entirely. And I made it disappear. Instead of an S shape, the shape is flat as a door, but the hinge on outside. On front an back the door will go with the airflow on edge, no resistance. and on a lateral side the door will be open too, also no resistance, but rotating, on the opposite site will lean against the frame, closed pushing the frame. I made a small prototype and it really spins like crazy. But is noisy, At large scale small rotation speed may be manageable, but still the efficiency may be not so great. I imagine that somebody tried before me, but I never seen it anywhere even I spread around the idea on forums. I imagine is the same principle as propellers vs that old boat propelling system. At hydro also, turbines are better than turning wheels. So I will never apply for an grant to study my design. I may fool some sucker, or bribe some not so suckers, and get a nice income in search field for a while, but I trust the engineers before me who proved that propellers are better.

[@heavyweather]

You also need to maintain wind turbines. The kite and dyneema lines have to be switched and get recycled after some month. All the maintenance happens on the ground. Still archives 10 to 20 times the EROEI over a turbine. These kites are already operational since ~ 15 years towing ships. The pilot plant in Germany is also online for some time now. It's simply the best form of wind technology available at the moment. It just needs to scale.

[@lpabildgaard]

How does it compare in yield pr invested money compared to normal windturbines?

[@shanefiddle]

Tiny. Just compare surface area: a wind turbine absorbs the force of its entire circle; this absorbs the force of the area of the kite.

[@thechumpsbeendumped.7797]

@@shanefiddle That’s not true, if the turbine harness all the power in its circle it would blow over.

[@Japidoff1911]

A good question which isn't answered in de previous comments....

[@thechumpsbeendumped.7797]

@@Japidoff1911 There are plenty of other videos on the subject, here’s just a couple. kzbin.info/www/bejne/rH63lJuMjcqXoc0 kzbin.info/www/bejne/nHTCqmSrbs-EaNk

[@glennmartin6492]

It's not neccesarily the power. There's lots of land to place more of these than turbines. It's the cost for the power that's important.

[@thomaspepper2201]

The best part is repair and maintenance is at ground level or small boom truck height

[@barrygillis]

The best part is a lack of actual success of this idea, which has been around for a long time, yet noone seems to notice, as long as there is an excited voice in a faux english accent talks over the early 2000s style CG.

[@jackmclane1826]

@@barrygillis A company for battery cars that break apart early and can't be repaired is worth billions on the stock market... so... everybody tries! ;)

[@thechumpsbeendumped.7797]

@@barrygillis Who is noone and what did he notice?

[@timduncan8450]

@@barrygillis I have been watching this a long time also. But sadly it does take time, money and motivation to get anything new done!

[@bretzeletouffeur7401]

The worst part is maintenance cost when the wing crashes 2 times a day.

[@jansveen]

What if there were a way to make the kite smaller in area when pulling it back in? It would save power, less drag.

[@chicodemilton]

I think a circle shaped design should do it. Like an umbrella but the middle being some type of metal so it can shoot back?

[@brettmoore3194]

Energen proposed this 2 decades ago but the US wouldnt allow it . this is a retarded version. The canadian co. Had a special golf ball design and dual generators. This gets funnier as i watch it

[@crouchingwombathiddenquoll5641]

The airfoil changes it's angle of attack , reducing drag for the descent and wind back.

[@jonibeYT]

Pulling it back doesnt consume much energy. Have you ever flown a kite? When its in the wind it pulls like crazy but when flown out of the wind its just like idling in the air.

[@Mgrzely]

It flies back instead of being pulled, basically it just winds back up with hardly any resistance.

[@corujariousa]

Interesting concept but each sail would have to be placed very far from the other, which would lead to a very high area (probably much larger than used with Wind Turbines). The area demand and power output are likely not to make this more than an interesting development.

[@ThomasBomb45]

The area underneath can still be used for other purposes

[@corujariousa]

@@ThomasBomb45 Think about the kite, cables, machinery linking all. Even if you want to plant vegetables (being silly) the opportunities are very limited. Consider that each unit requires an area on its on for maintenance vehicles/crew to work as well. This is certainly not a large scale solution.

[@ThomasBomb45]

@@corujariousa the kite and cable only take up space in the air, not on the ground. You could easily have this around farmland or interspersed in a solar farm. Heck you might even be able to do it off the top of a skyscraper (besides the safety concerns of course)

[@VinhA]

What if the kites fly together, synchronized with the wind? ;) You could have the ground stations placed together and so have more kites in little space

[@corujariousa]

How anyone can make this happen? Even with a sophisticated AI (when we have it). The wind is not 100% predictable. The turbulence exists and position of each kite/cable/etc will always get the wind with specific variances. This is just an interesting and small scale model that could be used if efficiency is proven better than other wind technologies. The complexities and disadvantages seem to prove otherwise.

[@mortimersnead5821]

Tension is always cheaper than compression.

[@harrymills2770]

SOLAR FREAKIN' ROADS!

[@TripleDDDD]

@@harrymills2770 is he still obsessed with the topic? I stopped watching him.

[@adonyestimon4392]

@@TripleDDDD no hes not lol, but he still debunks alot of bs "inventions" like this one

[@TripleDDDD]

@@adonyestimon4392 i’ll give him another chance. Generally a good channel, i was just overfed with the umpteenths ‘solar frigging roadway’ video. In my opinion he milked that topic way too much.

[@habiks]

your bull crap is also softer than the bull crap in the video

[@__-pl3jg]

The biggest question to answer is....Does the Skysail collect the same or more energy than a conventional wind turbine for less money? Thats a question that Skysails seems to be hesitant to assist in answering.

[@CagetheOnion]

I believe kite powered systems like this tend to be significantly cheaper per kWh than conventional turbines, though they are currently much smaller in scale.

[@varietasVeritas]

How long do the sails and rigging last? What is the minimum air speed?

[@TripleDDDD]

Air speed would depend on sail size. Low wind - bigger sail needed and vice versa. Rigging and sail would depend on material. My paraglider is over ten years old. Then again, not used on a daily.

[@iIiWARHEADiIi]

@@TripleDDDD i would expect maximum one year. But due simple fabric material, may be it will be cheap to replace each year.

[@DreadX10]

What is the maximum airspeed? How about rain and storm? How about the noise it makes? It is no wonder this technology didn't take off.

[@mrinterested]

As an ex power kiter, beyond 30 mph is scary and 40 mph is suicidal. It wouldn't be recommended in storms as lightning could destroy the kite

[@donamills]

How much area do these take up compared to standard wind turbines (SWT)? What is the life expectancy of the sail? How does UV light effect the material? What are the operating cost? Does it need to have some kind of visual warning lights for air planes? With up to a 800m swing, I don't see how these can be anywhere near flight paths and that doesn't include helicopters It seems to have more moving parts then a STW. I would think it would be more prone to fail. And that's just thinking about these issues before the video was over. Skeptical.

[@DreadX10]

My thoughts exactly. Plus, how does this system deal with the different wind directions (and airspeed) at different altitudes.

[@forsaken948]

I’m somewhat skeptical of the retrieval being as efficient as they say. Perhaps i should patent this idea lol, but I would just simply hook a series of additional tethers to the critical points of the wing, that when pulled- simply collapse the kite so it can fall. Allowing you to reel in the slack without much energy at all. On top of that, perhaps as it’s falling, before it gets too low, you could release those tethers and let it catch lift and fly up again.

[@olegolefirenko7994]

If you fold kite in the sky, after unfolding later, it will be unpredictable. You need control all the time. Any changes of form of the kite in the air is risky.

[@maxjohnsonesq]

Great invention. Willing to bet the most cost efficient design for consistently high wind areas such as plains and mountain tops is to axe the arm and completely and spend some of the additional savings on a lighter stronger tether, thereby increasing maximum height. Consequently, kite can remain in the air and simply oscillate between higher maximum and minimum points without the need to ever come down. Of course you’ll have to probably analyze wind maps for this, but areas where the wind doesn’t cease to blow at 1000 meters probably exist. Docking system could be replaced by some kind of manual steel pole setup. And might as well have a lightning rod to generate electricity while you’re at it!

[@thechumpsbeendumped.7797]

I’ve never heard of anyone harnessing and storing the power from lightning. Is it even feasible? Harnessing the infrequent and huge voltage would be...problematic. The places that are hit the most on earth are in Venezuela and the DRC, both have an average of 1 strike per day/kilometres squared. If each strike is 1 second (I’m guessing) that’s 5 or 6 mins of energy production in an entire year.

[@maxjohnsonesq]

@@thechumpsbeendumped.7797 great question. I am no engineer, but I believe it will be feasible with specifically dedicated batteries in the future. Until those are invented, you can certainly store the energy mechanically. I’ve never heard of anyone working on this, but surely it’s possible. You basically create a large mechanical circuit, in which the traveling current from the lightning erects weighted objects almost instantaneously as it passes through. Then the potential energy of those objects is converted into useable electricity when the kinetic motion is released and they are lowered. It would look like a bunch of giant switches mounted on a common axis with which they engage to turn when being lowered. Once lowered, they disengage independently. Axis drives a turbine.

[@thechumpsbeendumped.7797]

@@maxjohnsonesq You haven’t acknowledge that even if it were possible (which I doubt) you’re only collecting energy for 0.0000114% of the time, (assuming the collection process is in one of the 2 highest lightning hit zones and that you collect from,1²km). that energy then has to be stored and eked out for the remaining 364 days, 23hrs 54 mins.

[@maxjohnsonesq]

@@thechumpsbeendumped.7797 the fact that the strikes are infrequent is offset by the fact that there is so much energy dispensed in one strike. I have faith someone will figure out a way to effectively store lightning energy in the coming couple of decades. I read somewhere that lightning strikes could power the globe many times over with the energy released. The idea is to skim off just a little bit of that power in areas where it’s efficient to do so-near an electrical grid, namely.

[@maxjohnsonesq]

@@thechumpsbeendumped.7797 I guess nevermind. Not enough energy to bother with. I was wrong. Best stick to wind.

[@moulikshrivastava8157]

And when you have many of these, won't they get tangled amongst themselves?

[@evanbarnes9984]

Awesome! I read about this idea years ago and have been wondering what happened to it. How does it compare to the power generation of a typical windmill? I think the mininal structure, setup, and maintenance compared to a windmill could be a huge advantage.

[@k-mac9798]

Offshore wind is producing ~12.5 Mw per wind turbine. This thing said 0.2 Mw per sky sail. They will need bigger kites to compete in scale.

[@skysailsgroup8754]

Thank you for the great feedback! Compared to conventional wind turbines, the SkySails Power kite flies at altitudes of up to 400 meters. Depending on the location and time of day, speeds can be twice or even three times faster. The effect this has on generating electricity is increased because the wind’s force calculates as the cube of its velocity. When the wind speed triples, its force increases by 3³ = 27 times! By taking advantage of the constant and high-altitude wind, our airborne wind energy systems achieve more full load hours than conventional wind turbines and thus higher energy yields. Currently, our test facility and market-ready systems are rated at 200 kW. This year we are starting to develop a unit in the MW range.

[@anthonyxuereb792]

It's mobile to.

[@John-tq4bf]

In the case of an old and abandoned wind farm could they seize that abandoned technology and install on those existing bases?

[@AndreDing11]

I wonder how close can you put the units to each other..

[@ssshukla26]

Atleast 1600 meters away from each other in any direction. Each system will take upto 1600 sq meters of land.

[@de0509]

@@ssshukla26 why so? Is it because you anticipate one kite to fly towards the north and the other kite to fly south? Lmao. Its the same wind. The kites are receiving wind of similar strength and direction. Think about it

[@ssshukla26]

@@de0509 Have you flown a kite in your life! Wind is always in one direction and it can't be coming from two or more directions? You know when you lmao someone you should introspect how foolish your arguments are. It doesn't have to tangle with other parachutes, it can tangle with the equipment if it's too near to another one. Have you seen people parachuting, does they land in the same direction if they don't use the guidance system. Lol, you can't understand basics and can think you can reason with someone lmao 🤣😆.

[@de0509]

@@ssshukla26 what equipment are you talking about? All the equipment is on the ground. The only thing that goes up is the kite and the wire rope. You should instrospect how foolish your arguments are. Btw yes, wind does blow over a relatively same direction at the same day and season. It does vary, but the direction is not entirely random. The equipment on the ground can rotate. Also, air is a fluid and fluid push on each other. Yes air is quite compressible but typically wind will flow in a similar direction across an area because they have to. Air bumps into each other, hence they have to follow where the other air is moving. Ofc over multiple kilometers. Wind direction will change, but with this kite thing it does not even reach that kind of distance Are you suggesting that if wind is towards the north where Im at and I walk somewhere 50m away the wind would suddenly blow south? Omg you should introspect how foolish your arguments are. Also on parachutes. Most civilian parachutes are steerable. Also, different people weight differently. If people collide its probably their fault. In the US army, they used round parachutes in ww2 solely so they can scatter the troops and to not let the paratroopers try to steer by themselves and risk collision. You dont come across as someone who knows shit. LMAO and LMAO indeed

[@jackz1620]

@@de0509 Even when the wind blows in the same direction, it's possible for the kite to move in almost random directions. And a parachute can certainly go upwind with the proper configuration. I would say it's really hard to predict the kite position as a time series especially when the time elapse is long. There are too many parameters to keep track of. Also, wind certainly can change direction completely in a short distance. You don't experience it much on land because of the no slip boundary condition, but as a pilot I can tell you it happens a lot. It's called turbulence. I haven't done a full computation of simulation or experiment of this system, but I would say @Sunny Shukla made a pretty valid point based on what I have learned as a mechanical engineering Ph.D. with a concentration in fluid dynamics. Air is normally considered incompressible flow btw. I don't think you know much about fluid mechanics.

[@newjerseylion4804]

I would say you would need to make sure the cables don’t get tangled and also how is the pulley going to use less energy when it’s being pulled back down against the same wind force generating the energy.

[@jackmclane1826]

What is the installation cost per kW peak power and what is the average energy harvest expected per year at what conditions? What are the maintenance costs per year of continuous operation?

[@bluesifer8238]

They only produce 2Kwh per day.

[@jackmclane1826]

@@bluesifer8238 Lol... really?

[@bluesifer8238]

@@jackmclane1826 yeah they say it around dinner the 2.30 mark ish

[@jackmclane1826]

@@bluesifer8238 They are talking about 200kW of power @3:40. For 2kWh/day it would mean that this system operates only for 40sec/day at nominal power. I'm also pretty sceptical about the actual usefulness of this idea, but 2 kWh/day seems too low. Nobody in his right mind would think about that.

[@bluesifer8238]

@@jackmclane1826 3:20 "based on sky sails patented production of 2kw". They say the next generation could be 200kw, and then maybe 1Mw. But they're no where near that yet. Look at a company called makani which is where they're getting all the data and ideas from. This is a gen 1 kite from 13 years ago.

[@__-pl3jg]

3:35 - Mobile units available with 200kw output? But, how long does it take to produce 200kw?

[@__-pl3jg]

Exactly........Does the Skysail collect the same or more energy than a conventional wind turbine for less money? Thats a question Skysails seems to be hesitant to assist in answering.

[@nav_man]

Couldn't this principle be applied underwater, where the force would be much greater?

[@alextaylor9746]

In theory yes but designing such a system is much harder and more resistance to being back the water kite leads to lower total gain If I had to guess

[@sikosis999]

they already have systems that deploy water sails

[@raymondo162]

tidal

[@alextaylor9746]

@@raymondo162 yeah but there are better ways of doing that with then this

[@wayne30403]

I just watched a full documentary about Makani, very sad they have to stop the program due to funding after 13 years of developing kit power generation. Your design looks very similar to their early models. What make yours difference compare to their model? Better design? Better controller? Higher efficiency? I think one of the downside of their system is that they went from simple kits design to a multi-rotor glider which increase the budget by a lot. Hope to see more updates about your product. Keep up the good work. Cheers

[@Pystro]

I am wondering the same. The Makani project had to give up because their system didn't have as much of a power production advantage over modern wind turbine towers as they needed. Here's that video: kzbin.info/www/bejne/p5XCmXiglpuVsKc If I remember correctly, they had their generators on the kite, run by propellers. This design puts the generators on the ground and has a completely passive kite made only from fabric. And the less weight you need to lift, the lower the impact of that on the drag. Also, this design might be able to respond to fluctuations in the power grid: If the kite ascends and descends at 50km/h, the whole 6+6 km round trip will take 15 minutes - then again, the biggest variability on the power grid on that time scale is probably the wind itself, so I wouldn't expect any system like this to be able to store power.

[@johnsmith34]

Having a cheap kite is a notable advantage. I don't think Makani got to the point where they could guarantee their kites wouldn't crash. You'll notice that SkySails is emphasizing that they already deploy their kites, so the failure rate is already known. The given reason for shutting the company down was that "the road to commercialization [was] longer and riskier than hoped." edit: www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2095809921000114

[@jasonbirch1182]

I just watched that too. Their main problem was any failure causes basically a plane crash and no more generator. I was cringing Everytime that thing made the downhill turn.

[@clementpetit6134]

I remember when makani was the next big sky sails thing, it's cool to see an alternative!

[@xpeterson]

Certainly seems cheaper. I liked Makani, but looking at their final product, its hard to see the advantages over a traditional wind turbine with their level of complexity and number of moving parts.

[@yakut9876]

​​ it is very simple, " moving parts " has become an outdated consumerist phrase.

[@wc3639]

I’d be curious to hear the specs on this. I’ve seen other systems like this for research projects, but they all seem to only output a small amount of power compared to their infrastructure cost.

[@skysailsgroup8754]

The cost per kWh of produced electricity highly depends on the project site and characteristics. We are currently focusing on markets and applications where the customer has very high electricity costs, e.g. diesel power generation. Here, airborne wind energy offers an economically very interesting solution! Our customers can realise savings potentials of over 50 % with our technology.

[@ProgressiveVegan]

Does this require FAA approval? How are small planes alerted to avoid this area? I just did a search and learned that small planes fly about 3,000 meters, which is 4 times higher than these kites, so I guess that's not a problem.

[@skysailsgroup8754]

Visual flight rules generally apply in the lowest airspace that is mainly used by SkySails Power. The aviation permit is based on a restricted airspace. Thus, aircraft are generally required to take evasive action. Currently NOTAMs are published and pilots of SkySails Power systems are required to consider NOTAMs concerning their route when planning their flights. The system is made visible to aircraft by means of appropriate markings, such as a white flashing light. In the future, the use of detect-and-avoid systems will allow aviation permits in airspaces without further restrictions for general aviation.

[@erikm9768]

What happens at 2:38, i hate that its edited so we cant see if its fully automatic or not

[@undertow2142]

I dig it. What prevents you from having 2 kites working in tandem on the same boom?

[@iIiWARHEADiIi]

What is not pointed here. If system extends up to 1km then min safe distance between two generators should be 1km or 2km. Otherwise due to fully dynamic behavior of wind and sail, two sails could twist around each other.

[@thechumpsbeendumped.7797]

Not if they were linked and synchronised.

[@shellybelly9205]

Seem like the power will be very intermittent? Will the generator be charging battery or going straight to the grid?

[@thechumpsbeendumped.7797]

That’s what it showed in the vid @2:20

[@shellybelly9205]

@@thechumpsbeendumped.7797 then they should've said that it will have a battery then, not just show a symbol of a battery.

[@thechumpsbeendumped.7797]

@@shellybelly9205 Maybe they overestimated the deductive skills of their audience? But of all the engineering challenges of this concept, whether it uses power from the grid or from a battery to rewind the cable is hardly the biggest.

[@shellybelly9205]

@@thechumpsbeendumped.7797 maybe they did "overestimate the deductive skill of their audience" since not everyone is an electrical engineer, and there is no such thing as a stupid question, but there is such a thing as a stupid answer.

[@thechumpsbeendumped.7797]

@@shellybelly9205 “No such thing as a stupid question” keep telling yourself that if it makes you feel better🙄. I’m an advocate of “Its better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to speak and remove all doubt” You don’t need to be an electrical engineer to deduce what a picture of a battery draining (assuming you understand the battery icon?) and the statement that excess power is sent to the grid means. 🙄

[@JohnTrustworthy]

So you are telling me we could have been making energy from an over-glorified crane winch and a paraglider? Why hasn't anyone done this before???

[@zarrenvolk3482]

I have look at a lot of these kite videos. This is the first one to show the kite fully retrieved to the mast, but they cut the footage on how they got that tether in the mast when it is actually flying with the kite during operation. Very intrigued in install this on a small sailing vessel.

[@zodsinclair8500]

1st time seeing 1, but I like your pt, They said it had some form of control system, You'd imagine its a comuter program that auto adjust in the wind so that the sial doesn't cut itself on the dock... & its nice that it doesnt have to manually angle itself to PEAK Wind,...its natural....would like to now myself how the generator gets power from the awkward motion.

[@User00571]

Everytime he has to retrieve after full rope is released. Doesn't power generated will be consumed back?? I don't understand

[@snafufubar]

So in the space you will need to fly one of these how many standard windmills could be placed?

[@ivankovac7844]

Probably less than traditional wind turbines even though the tethers wouldn't bind up since all kites would be pulling in the same direction. The tradeoff is that the cost of production per kW would be cheaper and more accessible.

[@snafufubar]

@@ivankovac7844 they all do a figure of 8 in the sky. They're designed to do that. How are you going to synchronize them all to do it at the same time. Each one will need to be as far away from each other as they are up in the air. As a challenge get 10 kids and have them fly kites while standing next to each other.

[@ivankovac7844]

@@snafufubar 2 things: 1. they all have control boxes near the kite, a simple radio transmitter and receiver would be enough to sync them all up, 2. yes they all do a figure of 8 movement in their designated air space (no runing around like children do to tangle them up), and yes there needs to be space between them, that's logical, but do you put wid turbines one next to each other just far apart so that the blade tips don't touch?

[@jasonstation]

As a keen kitesurfer I can confirm there is a huge amount of power available from just one small kite like this.

[@physiqueDrummond]

As an ICE motorist I can confirm there is a huge amont of power in a cup of petroleum spirit.

[@thechumpsbeendumped.7797]

@@physiqueDrummond Yes, if you drove carefully it could take the average American car about 2 miles and produce a pound or so of greenhouse gases.

[@grinchyface]

Huge in reference to what? Are they efficient? It might take a 2-3 thousand watt burst of power to lift you up in the air for a few seconds, but traditional turbines using far less volumes can be as large as 14 MILLION watts. The length of that tether, and therefore the swing of the kite means that nothing else can occupy the same volume as the kite. Does it seem prudent to have only 20-30 square meters of it actually harvesting power? Cool idea, but in actuality probably quite silly compared to something that can be engineered to pull the very most power it can out of the smallest possible volume.

[@grinchyface]

@@thechumpsbeendumped.7797 How does a pound of greenhouse gas come out of 8 fluid ounces of gasoline with a mass of about 6 ounces? It would have to be like 99% carbon by mole

[@dans5595]

@@grinchyface simple. add oxygen during combustion.

[@jarikinnunen1718]

Why not pair of sails moving opposite direction for same generator?

[@3d1e00]

How do you get the density? Looks like you would need a pretty hefty clearance between each launch site to safely deploy an array.

[@Leandro-x4i]

But why the retrieving phase must be with engined energy.? What about gravity? The kite could be folded automatically and dropped and unfold at 200 meters

[@n46928739]

I don't understand how it works. I know it's depends on the wind pull the kite to driven the shaft to generate electricity. But after release all of wire, the kite could only swing in sky, will it keep generating? If the power could only generate during release the wire, is that enough to cover the power cost when it pull back?

[@markpukey8]

I think this is a never-ending cycle of release, reel in, release, reel in. It never stops. And I'd want to see their math before I believe it generates enough on the way out to make the whole cycle really cost effective.

[@nathanbarraud4349]

That's so cool ! Clean energies are our future, so nice to see new ways to use the wind, I'm really looking forward to see the future of that wonderful invention!

[@Hellsong89]

Sadly most "clean energy" solutions are not clean, not sustainable and not future, least in their current form. Ether it takes lots of space (hydropower), or its just comparable to scam like solar panels and wind turbines. For this thing, i'm looking that parachute, lines for max life of 5 years? and system in general that probably cannot produce enough electricity to pay it self.

[@nathanbarraud4349]

@@Hellsong89 "PROBABLY cannot produce enough electricity to pay itself" what do you know about that ? And I agree that solar panels and batteries pollute a lot, but the other way to create energy like wind turbines, hydropower are real solutions, "it takes a lot of space" and so what ? In the future we will have to reduce our energy usage, so space isn't a problem since we will have to produce less. In addition, what do you propose if it's not to use "clean energy" ? To keep using fossil energy?

[@st-gelaiskevin9202]

Why in the world Makani isn't talked about as much as I thought it would be in the comments? And not a word in the description or video...

[@seachers6124]

Ummmmm... how much more power would it generate if the kite was made from a light weight solar panel ??

[@CMZneu]

I am very skeptical about this, this is not a new concept so it's not unreasonable to assume there are major drawbacks to this system.

[@OffGridInvestor]

Yeah. I mean the LACK of energy from this thing and if that cable snaps, it's on someones house roof within an hour.

[@bluesifer8238]

"New skysails technology" Looking at Makani 13 years ago.

[@ivankovac7844]

@@OffGridInvestor the thing about those kites/sails is that (form what i understand) the control box is near the sail which means in the case of the teather breaking the sail can still fly itself down.

[@ivankovac7844]

@Fasi S the internal combustion engine isn't modern tech either :) A sail on a ship is basically free energy to pull it along, reducing fuel consumption without adding to much additional weight to it, THAT is why the idea is attractive; doesn't have to be new to be a good idea.

[@c2sartinkprinthub757]

it generates electricity when the kite is going up.. and the amount of energy is lesser when pulling the kite down how, show the generator?

[@skysailsgroup8754]

The kite consumes less energy as it is steered to the edge of the wind window. If you would like to understand further in depth the forces on the kite, this video is helpful: kzbin.info/www/bejne/iHjSh2aJrc9_m7s

[@c2sartinkprinthub757]

@@skysailsgroup8754 have a grasp of it, it figures "8" to provides the pulling action to run the generators.. fascinating.. hope you find a investor .

[@adolforosado]

I'm sure pilots will love this. Specially helicopter pilots.

[@thechumpsbeendumped.7797]

I don’t think they’ll put them next to airports. 😉

[@justinhart8652]

What if it is mounted on top of a tall building?

[@paulcooper8818]

Why is the generated deployment energy greater than the consumed retrieval energy?

[@thechumpsbeendumped.7797]

Watch the video, it explained how it works by flying to a low lift angle when winching back. It’s the same principle kite surfers use to reduce power and steer.

[@paulcooper8818]

@@thechumpsbeendumped.7797 OK thanks. Jjust re-watched video and caught that this time.

[@thechumpsbeendumped.7797]

@@paulcooper8818 You may find this interesting. kzbin.info/www/bejne/rH63lJuMjcqXoc0

[@paulcooper8818]

@@thechumpsbeendumped.7797 Yes, that is a helpful more thorough explanation, even if they are only using one kite per station now.

[@thechumpsbeendumped.7797]

@@paulcooper8818 It’s a different company, I much prefer the 2 kite system. If they can be controlled well enough to not interfere with each other they’d produce double the power. I’m wondering if it would be possible to have them both on opposite ends of the same cable with just a couple of turns around the drum and generate power when the generator is turned backwards. If done like that it would use the kite that producing power to real in the kite thats on it’s return flight.

[@scottwiggins2093]

Ya, I know it's not exactly the same but when I flew kites as a kid they would randomly hit the ground or would do so when the wind briefly subsided. If I was operating one of these things and had to constantly drive out and restart it, I'd be pretty annoyed.

[@dumyjobby]

so what is the energy production of this system, you have to have a prototype that show the performance potential.

[@DarianHickman]

So where is Makani now with this same idea?

[@GuderII]

What happen when rain strom coming?

[@skysailsgroup8754]

The system can be used when it rains. However, very heavy rain (e.g. monsoon) in combination with comparatively little wind can require a landing. The system cannot be used during thunderstorms. If thunderstorms are predicted, the kite will be landed for the duration of this event.

[@RobertEvans.]

If you install too many at one point they are tangled with each other how you are tackle with

[@theonebucketlist]

Do the kites need to be stored away frequently or can the kites operate 24/7? Is manpower required for start and storage? Does each system require a battery pack to lighten the stress on the grid from the vastly varying power output and consumption?

[@myword1000]

My understanding is that 24/7/365 operation will be the norm, with the exception of major hurricane type events. Launch & Retrieval are automated, but I imagine there would still be personnelon-hand to oversee. Smoothing out the variable power output will be handled not by batteries, but by super-capacitors.

[@strictnonconformist7369]

I’m curious how the computer determines how to fly the figure 8 pattern and properly deals with weird wind drops or gusts. Anyone flying a kite knows just how fickle the wind can be for consistency. A lot of human-controlled kites have streamers to purposely create drag for the purpose of added stability, but that’s still not a guarantee. On the plus side, flying kites also validates that wind closer to the ground tends to not have as much power available to harvest as much higher. Typical windmills absolutely have a lot of material overhead to build and maintain them especially with over-wind conditions causing failures at times: I’d like to think this can be controlled to efficiently harvest high-wind conditions that’d wreck a tower windmill, without it wearing the tensile lines and kites too fast. Nothing lasts forever, but at least repairs can be done lower to the ground. I still want to see real data on costs to build, maintain and power generated to calculate ROI. That was notably absent, and I wonder why, thinking if you have to ask, it’s perhaps not so great.

[@olegolefirenko7994]

Actually its really not so hard to do figure 8. With some experience, you can do that figure with closed eyes. You always know position of the kite in the air by force vector. If force pull you up - kite on top, pull left - kite left side.

[@theman1693]

what happens when the cable snaps, how would you recover, cost and well and what if theres no wind.

[@theflyingwelshman5338]

The cables and kites are relatively inexpensive and easy to replace. It’s also fairly easy to place a GPS tracker on the kites, which would make them easier to recover.

[@freethinkradio]

if it makes more energy than it uses in the power/ retrieval stroke.. why not just use one to power one to turn itself?

[@rockerpat1085]

It can't make more than it uses!!! Man has been chasing Perpetual Motion for centuries!!!! It can't be done!!!!!

[@oisiaa]

Is your company still pursuing this for ships?

[@CaptPike787]

Why do the figure 8s?

[@jonnda]

Back in the day my dad and I would try not to be dragged across the field as we took turns flying flexifoils.

[@rockerpat1085]

And it took more energy to drag it back in than it took to let it out!!!!

[@skysailsgroup8754]

That's great that you also fly kites in your spare time or used to do it! About the rewind phase, @Rocker Pat: Since our kite is retracted at the edge of the wind window, where there is no lift, very little energy is consumed during this phase, which lasts about 30 to 180 seconds, depending on the current wind conditions. We made a short video on the beach in Germany to demonstrate the principle: kzbin.info/www/bejne/iHjSh2aJrc9_m7s

[@jonnda]

@@skysailsgroup8754 I used to, then Northwestern University destroyed our kite flying field next to Lake Michigan by sectioning it off into sports fields for soccer, field hockey, and whatever. They put up bleachers and fences. It’s no good for kit flying anymore. Now our massive kite collection is just that, a collection of kites from the 90’s and early 2000’s. Flexifoils were the sparred ancestors of the bonesless kites that SkySails and kite surfers use today. Anyone who has flown one, understands where the kite wants to rip your arms off and where it will let you take a break. As a (former?) kite fan, I wish your business all the best.

[@GoatzAreEpic]

If the wind is coming from your back while driving a ship, and you deploy the chute, will it be a net negative energy? (Forward thrust delivered by generator vs air friction due to kite)

[@goncaloaguiar]

What's the cost, what is the maximum power and what is the stored energy?

[@groundzero6662]

Stop asking those questions... just go along with it... it works, really it does, no really. We promise. Can we have our gov. subsidies now?

[@DreadX10]

The video mentions 200kW so (in good/optimal conditions) it will generate about 10 euros per hour in revenue. The large kites to pull a ship are 500k-2500k. Don't know what this system would cost but I think it is having a hard time recuperating costs before the kite needs replacement.

[@Andy-uf7ix]

What's wrong with the simple wind turbine?

[@jasmijnariel]

What about a coil spring to retract it?

[@jwad297]

Sounds like another wind power dream.

[@shantanupant7724]

Why not give the kite a rotation and attach a motor for 360 deg . And why isn't kite retrieval easy by just folding kite in air

[@Anita95_original]

Typical hype! Nice video, "world wide patent", "available shortly", and "revolutionary"... Behind this will be "we need investors to make this happen", "be quick and your money will multiply", etc. As an engineer I see a totally meaningless system, first it is very intermittent and cyclical, which would be hopeless to handle in an electrical network due to stability issues. But even worse is EFFICIENCY, during a short distance of a few hundred meters you follow the wind with some hundred square meters of sail. Compare this to a large wind turbine with some hundred square meters of blade area that generates power every revolution, every cycle of blade turning... This SkySails concept is just one of many SNAKEOIL attempts to swindle money from people wanting to believe...

[@rockerpat1085]

As an engineer you should know that the first red flag is the claim that the winch will use less energy than it generates!!!! Nothing gives more energy than it uses!!! Snake Oil is correct!!! But don't worry Biden will give a hundred million tax payers money to this scam!!!!

[@ottodidakt3069]

the statistics of you being right are extremely high ! ask Paul Gipe, his facial reaction will tell you straight away if it's another scam or if it has any potential, but I doubt !

[@thechumpsbeendumped.7797]

These kites have been used for years to pull ships and reduce the fuel the use by 15-30%, the flight tech is tried and tested. kzbin.info/www/bejne/rH63lJuMjcqXoc0 try watching this before replying.

[@thechumpsbeendumped.7797]

@@rockerpat1085 As an engineer, your understanding of how this system works is disappointing. Try watching this kzbin.info/www/bejne/rH63lJuMjcqXoc0 before you reply and then maybe you’ll understand the concept a little better?

[@thechumpsbeendumped.7797]

And yet they’ve been using these kites to replace 15-35% of the engine power needed to propel ships for years🤔 what field of enginering are you in? Try watching this before replying. kzbin.info/www/bejne/rH63lJuMjcqXoc0

[@MkurangaChannel]

Well, I need such a container... is it available?

[@johnnyg632]

I would love to see a working prototype that is hooked up to meters to show that retrieval uses a fraction of the energy than the kite produces while unwinding the spool. Because that's not possible. And how exactly is the "power kite flown into a position that creates a low pulling force?" It's a kite on a tether, period. Is the wind going to conveniently lessen for you when it's time to pull it in? Do you have some type of system that directs the path of the kite into some position? Because that too would take energy. A wind turbine (as costly and utterly inefficient as it is) spins continuously as long as there is wind to turn it. This thing would unreal an 800M spool (not really that long) and then have to convert to a motor with enough torque and horsepower to pull in a large wind sail against all of the wind drag it's encountering, and do this over, and over, and over several times a day. Maybe you could run a cable from one of those turbines to give you enough energy to do it. LOL! I love how all of these animated videos on new energy inventions have all of these claims but never any real data. And they never show a working prototype hooked up to prove the numbers and therefore their claims. I think what lies behind all of these "green energy" animated videos promoting concepts that always seem to defy the laws of physics is the millennial mind - a participation-trophy, entitlement-minded paradigm which causes them to believe that if they have an idea it must be a good idea because they had it. I mean their mum and their teachers told them they were special after all.

[@jluke168]

you change the winds angle of attack on the kite, so side on, thus reducing the area the wind hits, and its overall force.

[@povorotnetuda2019]

Как я понял, это генератор который вырабатывает энергию пока сила ветра тянет парашют, после чего парашют перемещается в исходное состояние до следующего пуска. В таком случае КПД установки крайне низкое, можно установить 4 лопостных генератора меньших размеров на той же мачте и получать энергию всё время пока дует ветер, а после, можно и в другое место переехать. Возможно я не верно понял посыл этого видео.

[@oM477o]

It would be cool if someone made a smaller version of this that you could take to the beach and use to charge your phone or power a mini fridge

[@iIiWARHEADiIi]

Smaller version calls solar charger. You could get foldable 20w 5v charger at almost no cost. I believe that you would not go there for a long time at cloudy windy and rainy days. Also possible to get compact 12v solar cells.

[@licencetoswill]

or you could use a battery.

[@oM477o]

Of course you could use a battery or solar pannels, but neither of those are conversation starters like an overengineered self piloting power generating kite would be.

[@SmileyFace01]

If you want an overengineered solution. Get a small nuclear powerplant.

[@iIiWARHEADiIi]

@@SmileyFace01 even better. Small black hole enclosed into necklace dyson sphere.

[@pastblaster3285]

Pretty good looking idea .....What about conflicts with general aviation ? 800 M is 2400 + feet AGL ..........

[@RavenRaven-se6lr]

More Air Pollution Bird friendly ! Looks like a better idea than wind Turbines? 👍

[@Japidoff1911]

why? i think it'll smack a flock of birds right out of the sky! with its unpredictable motions...

[@0ldFrittenfett]

Could some native english speaker tell me in which accent it is narrated? It seems a bit weird to me but as a german, I could not really figure it out. Maybe it is a very light german accent?

[@Tank23333]

Most likly german accent The company is located in Hamburg a major city in germany

[@0ldFrittenfett]

@@Tank23333 As a german, I happen to know that Hamburg is a major city in germany.

[@raymondo162]

@@0ldFrittenfett jolly well done, old chap. marvellous isn't it - the cherman education system??

[@s.a.Bfirestarters]

i think the only problem here is the kite took more space compare wirh traditional turbin and the durabillty

[@yggdrasil9039]

Hmm. Interesting idea. But better efficiency would be achieved if there was a mechanism on board the sail to fold it up at the completion of its power generation phase at the end of its ascent and turns it into a ball. As the sail drops to the ground as a ball, a second high speed retracting motor winds it in at high rotational speed. This means that very little energy is expended 'pulling' the sail back to earth. Trying to pull an open sail back is still wasteful of energy. If the balled-up sail drops to the ground before it's completely retracted back by the high speed winch, its hard wearing outer surface protects it if it lands on the ground and has to bump along it as it's withdrawn, but you could also engineer it so that doesn't happen, or is rapidly withdrawn and captured by a extended receptacle so it doesn't even touch the ground. It then unfolds again and the process is repeated.

[@bluesifer8238]

Hmmmm Makani was capable of creating more than 700 Kw per sail, and they used a considerably more advanced sail. Using exactly the same technology and innovated over the last 13 years. Last year they stopped production and testing. And uploaded all their data for other people to use for free. That's where this company did their reasearch. This is a Makani version 1 kite they were testing about 13 years ago.

[@mzungu54]

Nothing spell dead-end than that...

[@huffpappy]

3:28 kind of ironic the kite is towing a ship loaded with wind turbine blades. I wonder just how big and powerful the kites can be.

[@iIiWARHEADiIi]

It would not work most probably if sail will fly backwards from the ship main direction. In a case if ship spend same amount of power as this system produce. If sail fly toward direction, then you could get double bonus. Power to push ship and drag force from sail.

[@Rocco_Kurokawa]

@@iIiWARHEADiIi The kite on the ship is not for electrical power generation, it's there to pull the ship and by that reduce the fuel needed by the ship. Of course the kite pulls most efficient down wind or slightly sideways downwind, but there is no need to have the kite up at all times, so when wind direction doesn't fit it can be stored away and the ship uses only engines. But most freight ships have some wiggle room in their schedules so they could choose routes that align with current wind directions to save more fuel.

[@hjooy]

A long development project seems to be ahead: for sure doable but anyone can come up with loads of concerns. Combined with reduced application possibilities doubt price per kWh will be competitive.

[@theflyingwelshman5338]

Oh trust me, price per kWh will be very competitive. Look at the difference in resource usage. A shipping container attached to a simple foundation compared to the complex foundation needed for traditional wind turbines with hundreds-even thousands of tons of expensive composite materials.

[@CaptPike787]

Mother nature would tear theses to shreds.

[@starshipcaptain4753]

Now we are thinking! Incredible

[@kaischmelzle547]

Will this be competitive?

[@jassonoppenhein3783]

Could we not invest in the skyscrapers at their height makes sense to take advantage of that power potential at the top of the building make it self sufficient

[@Ashwekar]

Where is the catch?

[@raymondo162]

at the very bottom of the line

[@123Goldhunter11]

I'll believe it when I see it.

[@kenjohnson6101]

Instead of having these tiny sails taking up all the space with their figure-eight loops, why not put a giant, stationary paddle wheel in the sky? Or maybe a funnel kite with a propeller?

[@alextaylor9746]

The real advange to these systems is the low noise visual polutition

[@lembriggs1075]

I think they’re working on just that!

[@a9s2w5]

Why not just do a helicopter kite inspired design? This seems overly complex to me. Think something like a kite with helicopter blades, similar to the wind power gyro copters designs, but designed to generate power. They can be incredibly stable, steered to catch/optimize the wind. This is not my realm of expertise, but this seems much more possible/simpler than some of these other kite power designs.

[@eug_metta]

Looks really cool but any data on impacts to birds..?

[@skysailsgroup8754]

Avifaunistic research realized by NABU (German nature conservation association) is still ongoing but shows so far a very low impact on flocks of birds, cultivation of plants, and further potential implications on nature.

[@jamesdash1906]

So much for looking at a beautiful blue sky or a pretty sun set with all the wind turbines and sky kites cluttering up the sky !!!

[@raymondo162]

full moon...........................

[@davidrobertson5700]

Surely there's power in farts at ground level ?

[@spacemonster8954]

Looks like maintenance hell

[@suleyman.dogruer]

Interesting I like it, it is new system for electrical technology

[@deltadoobyd1621]

...Can I get one?

[@janeblogs324]

1:54 I'm not sure you should be flying that directly under those power lines

[@HeatherSpoonheim]

Better yet, install a harness under the kite and have people pay to ride that crazy figure 8 ascent!

[@elbybrook9466]

Best comment ever. 😂

[@harryflashman3141]

This strikes me as less likely to be damaging to bird life

[@pk884ic]

I love this idea, I am completely in favour of this , good job team , my question is how much does the control system in kite cost? can I buy that separately and use our own kites and generators? I wish to use this idea in Pakistan

[@xyzero1682]

If Google could not get this to work in 13 years no one can.

[@LonerSurfer]

As a former kite pilot this blows my f**kin mind!!!

[@ecminc]

I don't understand how dragging shipping container across the field destroying cropps going to solve energy crisis.

[@amirsafari7140]

I really want one of these on my roof,it seems more power dense than solar

[@TripleDDDD]

Guess the neighbours would not love the idea :-)

[@Froggability]

@@TripleDDDD , why not? Like a kids kite only a touch larger

[@grejen711]

@@Froggability The size of the kite is not the issue. That it'll need to fly at 200-800meters over your home is. Certainly would not work in urban or even suburban areas as you'll often be under controlled airspace. Also would only work in relatively flat areas. This does seem like a very good way to get an off-grid supply to temporary work camps and such.

[@snafufubar]

@@Froggability you've obviously never seen how much space flying just one kite can take up. Now imagine all your neighbourhood has one of these each at 800m all doing figure of 8s. They would last maybe 5 minutes.

[@physiqueDrummond]

how many years before this system pays off the energy it used to build it?

[@didierpuzenat7280]

You mean for the cable and a sheet ? Really ?

[@physiqueDrummond]

@@didierpuzenat7280 Embodied energy for all the components (you listed only the irrelavant ones)