The Airborne wind conference was recently held and 156 participants in 2010 versus 68 participants in 2009
Makani Power in Alameda was awarded a $3 million ARPA-E grant to continue its work on an "airborne wind turbine." Makani, which is backed by Google, is working on wind "kites" that would be tethered to the Earth and capture the wind that blows at higher altitudes.
"Makani is taking a totally unconventional approach to wind power. It's a very clever idea and it's also very risky," said Majumdar, whose childhood hobbies included making model airplanes. "The kite has to take off and land on its own, and it can't crash
Makani Power website is here
China also has a 100 KW high altitude wind project in Foshan.
Ampyx Power has a 10 kilowatt powerplane and EU funding Ampyx Power has the financing required for full automation of electricity production with the company’s current 10kW PowerPlane prototype and to start the next development phase of scaling up to a 100KW system. Ampyx Power plans to demonstrate fully automated power production in late 2010. The development of a commercial 1MW PowerPlane is expected to be finalized in 2013.
Kitegen is building a large 3 MW prototype i Italy
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