Gigawatt Kites and Electric Cars as Utility Batteries

Another concept for very large wind systems that might amuse and inspire.

Kite arrays on a ground based merry-go-round.  From 45 MW to 5 GW
proposed. 

I wonder if the folks complaining about the visual impact of horizontal
axis turbines would complain about a large kite display.  They'd be hard
pressed to call it "industrial" which is a favorite term for them.

Personally I'm a bit skeptical on this design but time will tell.

http://sequoiaonline.com/blogs/ARCHIVIOscelti/intro_eng.pdf

I don't recall if I mentioned the article called "Thinking Bigger" in
our earlier dialogs but it's a very good article on building even larger
wind turbines.

http://www.eolien.qc.ca/francais/telecharger_document.php?id=98

Multiple rotors on one tower seems to me to be the next big step in
scaling up wind power.  Mostly because of transportation problems for
really big blades. 

This also assumes no field joint assembly of blades as was once proposed
for large wood laminate blades in the 1980s. Think of a really big wooden
finger joint.

Third Reich-based Hermann Honnef in the 1930s and UMass-based William
Heronemous in the 80s had also mult-rotor concepts.

http://www.lrz-muenchen.de/~matthias_heymann/images/forschung_hey.jpg
http://weekendpundit.blogmosis.com/images/windship.jpg

I've been doing some research into the Vehicle-to-Grid (V2G) concept that
would allow for folks with electric vehicles (like the promising plug-in
hybrids) to use their vehicles as part of a large distributed on-grid
storage system.  This would be good news for conventional grids and
especially those with intermittent energy sources like wind and solar.

http://www.csmonitor.com/2004/0729/p17s02-stct.html
http://www.udel.edu/V2G/

I also wonder what size of power plant they'd collectively make up if all
the cars had solar cells plastered on all their roofs and hoods as an
extra touch. 

I also like their potential as a modern day home backup generation system
(with a transfer switch and proper venting of course).  A modern day
Delco plant.  I bet there were more than a few of those down in Oklahoma,
Joe. 

http://www.gasenginemagazine.com/archive/0104/story.asp

This technology has the potential to provide a huge storage system given
the number of cars we have and how often they are parked.  The authors
assert that the potential for firming wind and other intermittent sources
is also large.  They indicate that wind installed capacities of 50% or
more would be possible.  Denmark is around 20% presently.

http://www.udel.edu/V2G/docs/KemptonDhanju06-V2G-Wind.pdf

BTW, I really enjoyed "Who Killed the Electric Car?".  If enjoyed is the
right term for such a film.  It did have a happy ending of sorts.

http://www.sonyclassics.com/whokilledtheelectriccar/

Gigawatt Kites and Electric Cars as Utility Batteries

Another concept for very large wind systems that might amuse and inspire.

Kite arrays on a ground based merry-go-round.  From 45 MW to 5 GW
proposed. 

I wonder if the folks complaining about the visual impact of horizontal
axis turbines would complain about a large kite display.  They'd be hard
pressed to call it "industrial" which is a favorite term for them.

Personally I'm a bit skeptical on this design but time will tell.

http://sequoiaonline.com/blogs/ARCHIVIOscelti/intro_eng.pdf

I don't recall if I mentioned the article called "Thinking Bigger" in
our earlier dialogs but it's a very good article on building even larger
wind turbines.

http://www.eolien.qc.ca/francais/telecharger_document.php?id=98

Multiple rotors on one tower seems to me to be the next big step in
scaling up wind power.  Mostly because of transportation problems for
really big blades. 

This also assumes no field joint assembly of blades as was once proposed
for large wood laminate blades in the 1980s. Think of a really big wooden
finger joint.

Third Reich-based Hermann Honnef in the 1930s and UMass-based William
Heronemous in the 80s had also mult-rotor concepts.

http://www.lrz-muenchen.de/~matthias_heymann/images/forschung_hey.jpg
http://weekendpundit.blogmosis.com/images/windship.jpg

I've been doing some research into the Vehicle-to-Grid (V2G) concept that
would allow for folks with electric vehicles (like the promising plug-in
hybrids) to use their vehicles as part of a large distributed on-grid
storage system.  This would be good news for conventional grids and
especially those with intermittent energy sources like wind and solar.

http://www.csmonitor.com/2004/0729/p17s02-stct.html
http://www.udel.edu/V2G/

I also wonder what size of power plant they'd collectively make up if all
the cars had solar cells plastered on all their roofs and hoods as an
extra touch. 

I also like their potential as a modern day home backup generation system
(with a transfer switch and proper venting of course).  A modern day
Delco plant.  I bet there were more than a few of those down in Oklahoma,
Joe. 

http://www.gasenginemagazine.com/archive/0104/story.asp

This technology has the potential to provide a huge storage system given
the number of cars we have and how often they are parked.  The authors
assert that the potential for firming wind and other intermittent sources
is also large.  They indicate that wind installed capacities of 50% or
more would be possible.  Denmark is around 20% presently.

http://www.udel.edu/V2G/docs/KemptonDhanju06-V2G-Wind.pdf

BTW, I really enjoyed "Who Killed the Electric Car?".  If enjoyed is the
right term for such a film.  It did have a happy ending of sorts.

http://www.sonyclassics.com/whokilledtheelectriccar/