The latest in green energ y? Go f ly a kite...
FOR centuries it was merely the simple toy that allowed us to perform aerobatics while remaining on the ground.
But now the humble kite is being touted as the potential answer to the world’s renewable energy needs – and Scotland has emerged as a test bed.
Giant kites flying at over 1,000ft and at speeds of more than 100mph will soon be a common sight at a former RAF base in Wigtownshire – and by 2020 the nation could have its first kite farm.
Each kite is more than 130ft wide and produces electricity by pulling on its tether in the wind and thereby turning a generator. When it reaches the end of its tether, it is wound in and the process starts anew.
A second kite on a different cycle ensures the process – and the power supply – is continuous.
A 40-kilowatt version has already been successfully tested by Kite Power Systems (KPS) and this summer the 500kW version will be rolled out at the air base in West Freugh, near Stranraer.
A kite farm with ten 500kW systems around a third of a mile apart is expected to be built by 2020. KPS plans to reveal in September exactly where it will be.
Business development director David Ainsworth said a Scottish location was preferred for the farm, which would generate enough power to supply 5,500 homes.
The first would need a grant, he said, possibly from an EU innovation fund, but subsequent ones could be built subsidy-free.
Mr Ainsworth said the kite systems would be much cheaper than wind turbines because they used a lot less steel and could be transported and maintained more easily.
They would be less visually intrusive too, he said, because they would fly at over 1,000ft, higher than the Shard, Britain’s tallest building, and twice the height of the blades of a typical onshore wind turbine.
Much bigger kites are likely to be deployed at sea.
The 3MW system would have pairs of kites, each with 380 square metres of sail.
Hundreds of wind turbines will reach the end of their operational life in the 2020s and no new turbines could replace them because the industry is now building much bigger machines, said Mr Ainsworth. Kite farms could go in their place, he said.
The project is the first of its scale in the UK and the second in the world –the first being a research project in Italy. Bill Gates, the Microsoft billionaire, has said there is a 10 per cent chance that kite power is the ‘magic solution’ to the world’s renewable energy needs.
Dr Sam Gardner, acting director of WWF Scotland said: ‘This is really exciting news as kite power technology offers the prospect of a new way to harness the power of the wind, especially in places where it might be impractical to erect wind turbines or other renewables. As well as contributing to reducing our dependencies on climate-damaging fossil fuels, there’s the chance to create jobs and export opportunities.
‘We hope the innovation being shown by this project and the many others across the country inspires our politicians to think big when they come to review their climate change and energy ambitions.’
‘This is really exciting news’