This is the first time I have ever thought an alternative power source was functionally insane. I do apologize for applying human legal terms to a machine. I am curious; is that the old airfield where the Mythbusters perform crash tests? If so it is very appropriate.

That's the thing about engineers: Not afraid to defy "normal" to get results. Of course, then there's hydraulic fracturing which scatters many tens of thousands of wells all over the country to pump precious waters plus chemicals below ground to produce climate killing hydro carbons. Talk about insane...

Google is not stupid (although they have made a few bad bets, I guess). If they are willing to invest in this, they must have crunched the numbers and decided it is a pretty good idea. I would love to see this thing work out.

I was sure that the whole point of kite power was to get even higher than the 2000 meter mark, up into high wind regions of the atmosphere, where it never stops blowing. The fact that the launch and recovery is automated is great, but how automated is it if it should crash?

This is an overly complex, over engineered solution. Google investing in this is insane at best. There are hundreds of things that could go wrong and they turned the simplest solution in the history of energy (the windmill) to a complex autonomous flying robot which has to handle 100's of variables which include 3rd party objects crushing into one of these delicate science marvels. Google should have invested in making solar panels cheaper or more efficient. Making batteries last longer, recharge faster and cost a fraction of what they cost today.

Why not put turbines at the tips of windmill blades?

To those who think this is over-engineered, super complex, etc... I don't see how! This is one of the simplest designs out there, really. Take an RC plane, put 6 motor/generators on it, tether it to a gimbal that reel it in and rotate with the device. Not that complex Google has engineered complex software that can make a car drive in traffic; making this kite/plane go in circles...not that hard.
As for foreign objects (like a small plane or hot air balloon), I think a wind-farm like this would be well marked on a map. Put lights on it. Radio transponders, literally dozens of solutions here. Birds? Well, we have that issue with regular windmills, we can figure this one out too.
I think this is one great idea, just gotta see if the testing shows good power/cost ratio. Also reminds me of the kite power generators that pull on the tether to spin a generator, then get pulled in by the spring, and repeat.

the past 6 years or so has seen a revolution in wind power. 1) the windmill has gotten bigger better and stronger and cheaper to deploy while a huge explosion in capital research for power storage promises to make traditional wind power a big deal
2)---the alternative wind capturing ---everything else---has gone from nothing to something a) kitesurfing as a sport b) vertical wind turbine research while mostly bogus in comparison to normal windmill design (hoisted on a giant pole) underlies an explosion in the study of aerodynamics--- b1) nonvertical wind capturing research based on vibration of a string or moving a sheet or tube to capture vibrational energy have been toyed with c)kite power for large ocean going vessels to supplement their fuel use d) exotic wind power designs for high altitutde have arrived----mounted on large balloons and on wings---like this makani power. these tethered wind power designs all desire to take advantage of high wind speed. e) exotic wind power designs based on thermal heat landscaping have been played with, including building wind turbines into actual buildings---or on the side of mountains whose heat radiates into the air creating windscapes.
all pretty amazing. google admitted to shoving 15 million into this idea already and now maybe just picked up the rest of the ownership as the company admits it cannot pay its bills.
while this flying wing might not be that interesting---IT DOES----look like there is a lot of truly excellent technology being developed here that could be used on other platforms for other purposes. ====namely energy scavenging the wind for NON grid applications. using turbinges on wings to produce energy is nothing new. many people have thought up this concept before (mistakenly as an idea for perpetual power during flight) -----HOWEVER---there is a lot to be said for the future of high tech and wind----
for example one thing i'm interested in is a traction kite/wing/foil that can work in ALL wind speed and be launched from the ground with no wind speed to reach 100 meters up. and be controlled with ONE line. yes one line.

Its nice to see where kite power is going. This may be a bit too complex for my tastes. I would like to see a simple but HUGE stable kite raise an extremely heavy weight along a high tower structure, then collapse so the weight would go down slowly, powering a generator. Repeat as needed.

This is a great example of one company looking beyond the next quarterly profit towards a worthy goal. Let's applaud Google for this. As for the technology... wind power is attractive. According to Wikipedia, harnessing only 1 percent of the jet stream may meet the world's entire current energy needs. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jet_stream