New Scientist ran a story[1] in 2000, covering Bryan Roberts - a professor an engineer at the University of Western Sydney in Australia - and his plan to build

New Scientist ran a story[1] in 2000, covering Bryan Roberts - a professor an engineer at the University of Western Sydney in Australia - and his plan to build 'gyromills' that used wind power to stay airborne, generated electricity, and transferred that back to ground with a tether. He'd built his first proof of concept device in 1986. Hadn't heard much about it since, but am reminded of the proposal every time someone comes up with a comparable design -- to generate electricity at high altitude, where where winds are consistent and strong, and property prices are low -- using some lighter than air or self-propelled vehicle. I see the gyromill plan has since morphed into a company SkyWindPower[2] and appears to look more like a 4-prop drone now, coincidentally. [1] https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg16722574-800-reach-for-the-sky/ https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg16722574-800-reach-fo... [2] http://www.skywindpower.com/ http://www.skywindpower.com/