One of the world’s first commercial
scale, kite driven power stations is set to be created near Stranraer in
Scotland in what could be a major step towards finding the “magic solution” to
humanity’s energy problems. While kites have until now largely been flights of
fancy that have entranced generations of children. But those behind the new
power station believe their system could cut the price of offshore wind energy
in half. It is so cheap, they say, that there will be no need for any
government subsidy – something currently required to build any new kind of
power generation, renewable or fossil fuel. The firm behind the Stranraer
project, Kite Power Systems has already demonstrated a small kite driven power
station in Essex. It now plans to build a 500 kilowatt system at the ministry
of defense’s West Freugh Range near the southern Scottish town after securing
planning permission. This will be the first of a significant scale in the UK
and only the second in the world after a research project in Italy. The kites
fly to heights of up to 450m in a figure of eight pattern, pulling a tether as
they rise which turns a turbine that produces electricity. By having two kites
working in tandem, one going up as the other floats back down, electricity can
be generated continuously. A full sized kite will be 40 metres wide and be
capable of generating two to three megawatts of electricity, about the same as
a 100m conventional turbine. A field of just over 1,000 kites would produce as
much electricity as the planned Hinkley Point C nuclear power station if the
wind blew constantly.
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