Kitepower? Ahhhhh….No

Occasionally I like to apply some mathematics to claims that are made about renewable energy technology.

Pictured here is something called Kitepower, another variation on the theme that we’ve seen so many times over the years.

Could this be a 100kW system as suggested?  It’s hard to say precisely, but let’s say that the kite is 5′ X 20′ or 100 square feet.   Let’s convert that into a circle: 100 = πr², so r = 5.6′, and then plug all this into our friendly wind power calculator, which uses the equation: Power = π/2 * radius² * wind velocity³ * air density * efficiency–and find that we’d need an average wind speed (blowing 24 hours per day) of 79.8 MPH.  That’s quite a breeze.

I also take issue with this one: Kitepower’s patented technology is a a game-changer in the wind energy sector, and is said to be twice as efficient than existing technology.

No.  Current wind turbines capture more than 80% of the theoretically available energy from the wind.