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by tobinfricke
2106 days ago
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> Why this failed? Well, I think the main TLDR is that it would require significant additional investment to reach MVP. Also- the energy sector lacks the huge margins of the tech sector. Renewables have long been subject to a boom-bust cycle driven by the prevailing price of energy. Our released technical report "The Energy Kite" is intended to help answer this question, and to explain what we would do if we had the opportunity to continue our work. Check it out here:
https://storage.googleapis.com/x-prod.appspot.com/files/Maka... One major learning is that it ultimately appeared to us that crosswind kite power currently offers little benefit over traditional horizontal axis wind turbines for onshore applications, except perhaps niche applications such as small-scale generation allowing rapid deployment. There may still be a viable opportunity for large-scale crosswind kite power in the deepwater offshore environment. In that environment, conventional wind requires huge floating platforms to deal with the overturning moment arising from the turbine drag acting at the top of the tower. In crosswind kite power, only a small buoy is required to support the tether tension. Finally, the M600 failed to meet its performance specification (the "power curve" which shows how power generation scales with wind speed). The reasons for this are detailed in the technical report (starting on page 231 of the above link). (We designed a follow-on system called MX2 which we believe would meet its performance objectives but the project was cancelled before it was built.) |
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But then again, so does solar. It's tough to compete when there are existing options.
Full respect to everything you and your team built!