Power-generating kites backed by Royal Dutch Shell PLC, Schlumberger Ltd and EON SE are to start tests in the UK this summer, with the aim of developing a technology that could eventually replace offshore wind turbines.
Kite Power Systems, known as KPS, is working on a 17m device that flies on air currents high above the ground and generates power by pulling at a cable. It raised ￡5 million (US$6.4 million) from the three energy giants in December last year.
“The reason we are interested in something like this is that it has potential to reduce the cost of offshore wind in the future,” Shell Technology Ventures BV managing director Geert van de Wouw said.
“Fundamentally, looking at the science, flying the kite at high altitudes so there’s lots of wind and the cost of materials is quite a lot lower than a normal offshore wind turbine,” van de Wouw added.
Alternatives to traditional wind turbines are in the works at multiple start ups, some backed by corporations in energy and tech such as Alphabet Inc.
German utility EON has also invested in a test site in Ireland for drones that are designed to fly at high altitudes and generate energy.
The kites work by sending aloft a wing to fly in a circular looping path much like the tip of a wind turbine blade. The machines harness aerodynamic lift from the wind exerted against the tether linked to the ground. Tension in that tether causes the line to rapidly spool out from a drum, which is connected to a generator.
Kite Power Systems is to start testing its machines in July or August at a site in Scotland.
Offshore wind farms could someday be repowered with the technology, interim chief executive officer David Ainsworth said.
“There’s 3 gigawatts of offshore wind coming to the end of life in the 2020s,” Ainsworth said. “It’ll have to be decommissioned, but you’ll still have the infrastructure there, the grid. There’s an opportunity to repower with kites.”
Kite Power Systems believes that its system could generate electricity between 55 percent and 58 percent of the time, a capacity factor that is higher than a conventional wind farm.
It has made a 500 kilowatt kite and is working on a 3 megawatt version.
Ainsworth expects that the company’s technology could eventually reach as much as 6 megawatts from each machine.
Gudeng Precision Industrial Co (家登精密), the sole extreme ultraviolet pod supplier to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (台積電), yesterday said it has trimmed its revenue growth target for this year as US tariffs are likely to depress customer demand and weigh on the whole supply chain. Gudeng’s remarks came after the US on Monday notified 14 countries, including Japan and South Korea, of new tariff rates that are set to take effect on Aug. 1. Taiwan is still negotiating for a rate lower than the 32 percent “reciprocal” tariffs announced by the US in April, which it later postponed to today. The
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, yesterday said its materials management head, Vanessa Lee (李文如), had tendered her resignation for personal reasons. The personnel adjustment takes effect tomorrow, TSMC said in a statement. The latest development came one month after Lee reportedly took leave from the middle of last month. Cliff Hou (侯永清), senior vice president and deputy cochief operating officer, is to concurrently take on the role of head of the materials management division, which has been under his supervision, TSMC said. Lee, who joined TSMC in 2022, was appointed senior director of materials management and
MAJOR CONTRIBUTOR: Revenue from AI servers made up more than 50 percent of Wistron’s total server revenue in the second quarter, the company said Wistron Corp (緯創) on Tuesday reported a 135.6 percent year-on-year surge in revenue for last month, driven by strong demand for artificial intelligence (AI) servers, with the momentum expected to extend into the third quarter. Revenue last month reached NT$209.18 billion (US$7.2 billion), a record high for June, bringing second-quarter revenue to NT$551.29 billion, a 129.47 percent annual increase, the company said. Revenue in the first half of the year totaled NT$897.77 billion, up 87.36 percent from a year earlier and also a record high for the period, it said. The company remains cautiously optimistic about AI server shipments in the third quarter,
STABLE RESULTS: Despite June’s lower consolidated revenue, second-quarter sales still reached a record high, driven by demand for chips for AI applications Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday reported consolidated sales of NT$263.71 billion (US$9.02 billion) for last month, its second-lowest monthly result this year. The world’s largest contract chipmaker said in a statement that its revenue last month only fared better than the NT$260.01 billion posted in February. Last month’s figure rose 26.9 percent from a year earlier, but slumped 17.7 percent from May, the company said. However, second-quarter revenue reached NT$933.8 billion, a record high for a single quarter, company data showed. The figure represented growth of 11.26 percent from the first quarter and 38.6 percent from a year earlier. Previously, TSMC said that
RSS