Up, up and away!

“Let’s go fly a kite, up to the highest height” sings a university professor as he makes a scientific breakthrough that could revolutionise the concept of renewable energy, sending green energy figures sky-high…

Being a professor of sustainable engineering, Dutch and an ex-astronaut, chances are Wubbo Ockels probably isn’t singing the classic Mary Poppins tune, but as he does have cause for celebration, who’d blame him if he did suddenly burst into song?

Yes, the hard-working, but ever so slightly eccentric, Dutch scientist wowed the world last weekend with his successful attempt at creating electricity using something straight from the toy box – a giant kite.

Ockels and his team, from the Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands, managed to harness enough wind power using a 10-sq metre kite tethered to a generator to produce 10 kilowatts of power – enough electricity to power ten family homes.

The experiment was such a success that the team have now planned to test a 50kW version of their invention, called the ‘Laddermill’ project, and have dreams of eventually building a multiple kite version, that they claim could generate 100 megawatts of electricity, effectively enough to power a town of 100,000 homes.

The concept is simple enough. The Laddermill is made up of a number of kites connected to a cable, forming a huge loop. Working on the same principle as the wings of an aeroplane, the wind causes an upward lift. Changing the attitude of the kites will make the lift either higher or lower. The kites on one side of the loop are placed so that they produce the maximum lift, while the kites on the other side will give a much smaller lift.

This results in a difference in force between the two ends at the ground. The cable is attached to a wheel on the ground, and the force difference will drive the wheel. By connecting the wheel to a generator, electricity will be produced, converting renewable wind energy into power for our homes and businesses.

Ockels and his team aren’t the only people in search of energy from a higher place. In 2007, Google bought out Makani, a Californian-based company partaking in similar experiments.

So what makes this simple concept so appealing? Well apart from the aesthetically pleasing view of hundreds of colourful kites flying high in the sky, the proposition of a cost-effective kite farm could spell the end of wind turbines, which are to many, an expensive, noisy, eyesore.

“Environmentally-friendly” wind turbines have been slammed by just about everyone since they were first introduced in Britain back in the early fifties. If people aren’t complaining about the noise of them (which isn’t even that loud – there’s one practically on my doorstep, and I can’t hear it!), or the fact that they ruin the landscape, then there’s always the environmentalists’ argument that they are a threat to bats and birds.

But what makes the kites really special is their ability to reach higher altitudes, where the energy source is more abundant and reliable. The blades of a standard wind turbine sit about 80 metres from the ground, where the wind speed is about five metres per second. At 800 metres though, wind speed rises to seven metres per second, meaning a considerable amount more energy could be generated. It’s virtually impossible to build a turbine to this height, but flying a kite that high is, well child’s play really.

Ockels’ kite farm may prove to be a renewable energy triumph, but only if he can power past the cynics scepticism of his design, and get the money to fund the project. Ockels has said that commercial systems large enough to power whole towns could be operational within the next five years, if the money is made available; otherwise the technology could languish in the lab for a decade or more.

With many a misanthropist ridiculing his idea, I really hope Ockels doesn’t shelve his ‘giant kite farm’ plans. Because if the kite generators do ever make it out of the workshop, they may silence the critics who have complained about the noise and hazard that comes with wind turbines. And, with renewable energy sources sprouting up just about everywhere these days, they are becoming a lot cheaper for customers, which could force the “Big Six” to consider lowering their energy costs.

I guess only time will tell…