3 ms·
Makani had huge amounts of capital from Google to work with. As you point out there are other much smaller players in the field who keep the generator on the gr
by UncleOxidant 5y ago
Makani had huge amounts of capital from Google to work with. As you point out there are other much smaller players in the field who keep the generator on the ground and generate power from the upward pull of the tether. I worked at one of these startups. But after Google canceled Makani it became very difficult to find funding because angel investors figured that if Google got out of the game it must not be viable. And so we folded.
> - On the edge, possibly near to commercialization: https://www.ampyxpower.com https://www.ampyxpower.com
A CGI video does not convince me that they're near to commercialization.
- tromp 5y agoThe ampyxpower website claims they translate tether tension into rotational energy to drive the generator, but how does that work?
- Grustaf 5y agoThe tether is rolled up on a drum, whose axis is connected to a generator.
- spowerei 5y agoYou are right, I used the wrong wording: "possibly near to commercialization"->"they have something flying" Many others should be mentioned, i.e. https://www.kitemill.com/ https://www.kitemill.com/