HAWP – High-Altitude Wind Power

We don’t hear as much about high-altitude wind as we did a few years ago, though the subject has not completely disappeared.  There is no doubt that the wind resources a thousand feet or so above the Earth’s surface are far superior to those we experience down here, and this can be quite attractive given that the power generated by a moving fluid is proportional to the cube of its velocity.  Doubling the velocity means octupling the power.  But it’s equally clear that harvesting that resource requires specialized/expensive solutions.

Is all this worth the risk, given that HAWP, if it is ever to exist, needs to compete against the cost of every other energy source?  At this point, it seems to me that the answer is: probably not, given the fact that the cost of these competitive solutions, e.g., solar PV and garden-variety wind, has plummeted in the past few years, and will only fall further over time.

I’m speaking with a fellow in Italy who’s working on developing a concept called Kitegen. He’s still at a very early stage, but notes that they’ve been around for a few years in the area of kite generators, and, in the last months they have completed the development of the last element of their system: the so called power wing which is currently under test.

He notes that Kitegen wants to launch a funding campaign in the U.S. where the company is not so well known at the moment, and asks, “Can we do something together in this area? Would it be possible to organize a roadshow in Silicon Valley early next year?  In that case what would be your fee?”

Obviously, I could take a fee to set up such a roadshow, but I really don’t want to do a project whose results are more-or-less bound to be a disappointment.  I wrote:

I don’t think this is ready for U.S. investors quite yet.  I think you’ll need to wait until test data is available that shows how cost-competitive this can be versus other forms of renewables, especially garden variety wind, where power purchase agreements are being signed for $0.02/kWh in certain circumstances, but (I would guess) $0.06 – $0.10 in most others.  That creates a really tough environment for concepts like this.  Please keep me posted; I’m very interested in being a part of this when it’s ready to move forward.