We do not know about you, but we love a good origin story. While not all stories do not have a happy ending (which is fine, because life is not a fairy tale!), we do enjoy the flying wind turbine’s inspiring story. Let us begin with a riddle: What do three guys, two dreams, one 65-foot catamaran, and flying energy production have in common? If you do not know, do not fret, because we are about to tell you. It all started with one man who had an ambitious goal.
The origin story of this innovative idea
The man, the myth, the legend. Or just simply put, the kiteboarding enthusiast, Don Montague, had an ambitious dream to become “the fastest person to circumnavigate the globe.” To achieve his dream, he planned on using a 65-foot catamaran, wired to a big parafoil that could fly approximately 250 feet in the air. In essence, the typical kiteboard rig would be enlarged. He was a few months into the project when two of his kitesurfing friends got a sneak peek. These two friends were Google founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page.
“I was showing them how much power was actually available at higher altitudes, and I said, ‘Look, I can even generate electricity.’ ” – Montague
Knowing that their friend has worked with a Dutch astronaut to build a kite-power prototype, Brin and Page told Montague that he should not waste his time sailing around the world.
“Let’s save the world.” – Sergey Brin and Larry Page, the founders of Google.
The flying wind turbine that has heads turning
The new endeavor was named Makani, a wind turbine that would fly like a kite whilst using small propellers to produce electricity. Google invested a whopping $15 million in Makani, which was then sold outright to Google X for “an undisclosed amount,” which usually means “a lot of money.” So production of the second-generation 600 kW wind turbine began, aimed at producing enough electricity to power 300 homes.
Makani built and tested small-scale kite prototypes in a broad scope of wind and environmental conditions. Key challenges were tackled, such as transitioning between vertical hover flight and producing energy in crosswind flight, where the kite flies in acrobatic circles to maximize power outputs. When the kite took off, its propellers served as rotors, lifting it off the station. Once airborne, the kite would reach 1,000 feet before changing to “crosswind flight.” This motion did not require the extra energy output.
Air would then be allowed to flow through the rotors, which turned them into small wind turbines, producing electricity to be sent to the specially designed tether on the ground. The kite’s path was monitored by a flight computer to keep it stable, even in strong winds, to ensure a controlled landing at the ground station.
Where is this flying wind turbine today?
Eventually, Makani designed the M600, a carbon-fiber kite with the wingspan of a small jet, which could power approximately 300 homes. Their goal was met. Makani’s flying wind turbine had a few successful flight tests off the coast with its partner at the time, Shell. However, a few crashes followed afterward, and by 2020, Makani’s journey came to a halt.
“Perhaps we will fail. But if we succeed, the value dwarfs all the potential failures.” – Damon Vander Lind, lead engineer.
To share their lessons and insights with the flying wind community, the team created an archive called The Energy Kite Collection. A film was also made to document their 13-year effort to build energy kites.
We told you this origin story was inspiring. Even though Makani’s journey came to an end, hopefully, they managed to plant a few seeds of inspiration with their documentary, which could lead to the next revolutionary idea sprouting.