Marshall Brain's Blog

[See previous new idea]



Windmills in the Sky

From the article:

After 25 years of research, Roberts has designed a helicopter-like rotorcraft to hoist a wind turbine high into the air, where winds are persistent and strong. The craft, which is powered by its own electricity and can stay aloft for months, feeds electricity to the ground through a cable.

Roberts, a professor of engineering at the University of Technology, Sydney, believes there is enough energy in high-altitude winds to satisfy the world's demands. Wind-tunnel data suggests a cluster of 600 flying electric generators, or FEGs, could produce three times as much energy as the United States' most productive nuclear power plant.

Also:

At this efficiency, FEGs could become the nation's cheapest source of electricity, with an estimated cost per kilowatt hour of less than 2 cents, about half the price of coal, according to the Power Marketing Association.

In the United States, the largest nuclear power plant is at Palo Verde, producing nearly 4 gigawatts (ref). Each FEG is producing approximately 20 megawatts. With just 40 FEG clusters you could produce enough electricity to supply all of America's electricity needs.

See also AltEng.