Altaeros Energies has announced the first testing of its Airborne Wind Turbine (AWT) prototype that resembles a sort of blimp windmill. The test took place at the Loring Commerce Center in Limestone, Maine, USA where the AWT floated 350 feet (107 meters) into the sky and successfully produced power, before coming back to earth in a controlled landing. The turbine was deployed into the air from a towable docking trailer, while demonstrating that it can produce over twice the power at high altitudes than generated at conventional tower height. There are hopes to energy costs can be reduced by up to 65 percent by harnessing stronger winds that occur at and above an altitude of 1,000 feet (305 meters).
"For decades, wind turbines have required cranes and huge towers to lift a few hundred feet off the ground where winds can be slow and gusty," explained Ben Glass, Chief Executive Officer of Altaeros, a company led by alumni of Harvard and MIT. "We are excited to demonstrate that modern inflatable materials can lift wind turbines into more powerful winds almost everywhere—with a platform that is cost competitive and easy to setup from a shipping container."
The AWT features an inflatable shell that is filled with helium, allowing it to float to higher altitudes where winds are often five times more powerful than those closer to the earth’s surface. The employment technology has been inspired by aerostats, the industrial cousins of the well-known blimp, that commonly raise heavy communications and radar equipment into the air. Traditionally aerostats have survived hurricane-level winds and employ safety features that ensure a slow descent to the ground.
The AWT prototype, which has been developed in partnership with Doyle Sailmakers of Salem, Massachusetts, has been designed to have little impact on the environment while creating minimal noise pollution. When deployed, it's claimed that the AWT requires minimal maintenance and will displace expensive fuel used to power diesel generators at remote industrial, military, and village sites.
Source: Altaeros Energies
This could easily start a revolution in localized power generation. By nature of the technology, we can't place these much closer together than the added lengths of their tethers, but again, the ability to tether multiple ones together high up into the sky negates that disadvantage several times, and naturally means that the ground tether point could fit into the space of an average backyard. Entire communities could be powered just from a few "stacks" of these airborne generators. Also, because of the high visibility of the generators themselves, they're unlikely to cause problems with migrant bird populations. But, if problems do arise, it wouldn't be too difficult to put a more visible mesh in front of the prop.
These can even be placed out in the ocean with fewer consequences and lower cost than those ocean-based turbines.
And in either case... with the development of thin/flexible/spray-on "solar cells" when they become fully/commercially available you could coat the outter shell of these with that, so that they are producing wind/solar power at the same time from one unit.
Guys, alt-counterculture was cool in poetry and music in the sixties. But you can't do it with power generation. It has to actually generate power.
The people in Germany made perfectly good vehicles that used hydrogen.
They were safe and impervious to combustion - except when the captain did a turn that exceeded the hulls designed stress limits, broke a truss wire that slices open a gas cell, and the leak was ignited by static.
I think nice land based solar concentrators are the go....
doesn't a version of ultra thin graphene stop helium 100%?? This is perfect for that.
One guy designed a turbine shroud based on the whale sharks mouth that seriously reduced drag and improved generator speeds. If these can be placed out to sea in turbine fields or over farmers fields so they generate an income for the farmer then this is a better idea.
One negative is that the increased fan speed and height will kill a lot more birds unless the tethered height is quite high. Landbased windmills have relative slow speeds turbines are smaller but operate much faster.
As for using hydrogen.. hydrogen explodes and the balloon falls to earth in a fireball. Helium leaks out and then the balloon falls to earth slowly.
Helium doesn't get used up its recyclable. It's the tech using liquid helium to cool superconductors that is 'using' up all the helium. I'm OK with CERN doing that but the people trying to make fusion work are wasting their time. Of course if they do get it running there's your new source of helium..
Solar (of all flavors) is now on the move and I expect that the traditional Energy Companies and especially the Nuclear Industry will fight tooth and nail to "keep Solar in it's place" a tiny fraction of the total...
Solar (of all flavors ) is ready for prime time, unless the Nuclear Fascists* stop it from happening!
Benefits of Solar (of all flavors): ✔ Less costly to build ✔ ZERO RISK OF A MELTDOWN ✔ No Trillion Dollar Eco-Disasters ✔ Faster to construct ✔ CLEAN from start to finsh. ✔ No radiation worries or leaks ✔ No foreign dependency ✔ Prices dropping yearly ✔ Creates green jobs ✔ No nuclear cleanup expenses
Read one or more of these, to learn how Solar (especially Solar from Space) can power the Planet and put a stop to Warfare over energy and minerals:
The High Frontier by Gerard K. O'Neill, Colonies In Space by A. Heppenheimer. The Third Industrial Revolution G. Harry Stine The Space Enterprise by Philip Robert Harris
Birds.... come on, lets get real, that is hardly a problem. Birds aren't going to just go flying into a realatively stationairy object. Its not a like a plane that is fast moving, always in a different location.
Hydrogen doesn't just explode on its own, it has to have a cause. And that is hardly a problem we need to worry about. It would most likely be rare in the first place which is good (financially) but we're not talking about a blimp, there would be no people to get injured. If such a device exploded/lit on fire, it would be out by the time it hit the ground.
Helium can be recycleable in certain conditions, but you can't capture it from the atmosphere (because its too expensive) and yes helium does run out. It is deffinately one of the more limited resources available on this planet, and the supply is only further running out.