I can confirm yes, the higher in altitude you go the stronger and more consistent the wind is.
This is part of why wind turbines are built as large as material science allows, of course a tethered floating turbine like this can go so much farther than a traditional turbine can reach.
One benefit I dont really see highlighted much is that all the parts of this S2000 SAWES high altitude wind turbine can be fit into shipping containers which makes them far easier to transport than the 127m (416 feet) conventional wind turbine rotors. Not to mention the things keep getting stronger.
The S500-tested October 2024, produces 50kw peak
S1000- tested January 2025, produces 100kw peak
S1500- tested September 2025, produces 1mw peak
S2000- this design, tested January 2026, produces 3mw peak, has been redesigned to fit into shipping containers and for weatherproofing/addressing points of failure to allow for deployments in cities as well as the original use case of remote mines and villages
This is cool. But a normal ground mounted turbine of the design we've been successfully deploying for decades can produce way more capacity per turbine. It's definitely not as exciting as new designs but "just build more of the same stuff we've already been doing" really is the way forward.
It's definitely not as exciting as new designs but "just build more of the same stuff we've already been doing" really is the way forward.
China is doing that as well to be fair. They're planning to install something like 120GW of wind a year for the next four years. This thing isn't going to supply a national grid because it's less efficient than regular turbines, but might have uses in certain edge cases like remote factories or research stations or whatever.
Transmission lines don’t really have the same needs as a wind turbine in terms of construction. I understand where you’re going with this, but the practicality of being able to bring in a floating turbine is certainly undeniable. I’ve worked in a lot of places where it would have been beneficial and no, a turbine would not have been practical.
I hope they succeed, an American firm Aelteros (sp?) did something similar 15 years ago. They have since pivoted to high altitude relay towers for providing data coverage.
This thing is far from invisible; I'm not sure how a wind turbine is an eyesore but a big blimp isn't. I personally love wind turbines during the day, but the aircraft warning lights are annoying at night. This would have the same lights.
What if the lights looked like lighted clouds flying or koi fish swimming in the air. Why just the blinkies when you have a stationary ish flying Flight of Dragons. It could just blink in the day I guess
Its flying 2KM away so I doubt you'll see much and wont be placed in flight lanes because its simply too risky so you probably wont even see these where humans tend to congregate. Wind turbines are increasingly operating offshore the so I suppose that people that dislike them wont have tpo worry about either of these things though like you said wind turbines look cool to many of us anyway.
On a side note I wonder how practical this is, the air currents are brutal up there, having something up there permanently with large moving parts sounds like an engineers nightmare. It adds another arrow to the wife energy quiver so im all for it but just seems significantly less practical than on ground turbines.
What I want to know is how much do they cost?
This is impressive. Can be easily shipped, assembled and can provide power to remote locations, not connected to the grid.
Wind is also 24/7 and plentiful at a certain elevation.
Can you please elaborate on the last part? Does it mean that at a certain height wind just never stops?
I can confirm yes, the higher in altitude you go the stronger and more consistent the wind is.
This is part of why wind turbines are built as large as material science allows, of course a tethered floating turbine like this can go so much farther than a traditional turbine can reach.
Yes, at a certain height, wind is much stronger and much more constant side less obstacles.
Ah I see, I guess it’s could be envisioned like a massive energy generating kite
One benefit I dont really see highlighted much is that all the parts of this S2000 SAWES high altitude wind turbine can be fit into shipping containers which makes them far easier to transport than the 127m (416 feet) conventional wind turbine rotors. Not to mention the things keep getting stronger.
The S500-tested October 2024, produces 50kw peak
S1000- tested January 2025, produces 100kw peak
S1500- tested September 2025, produces 1mw peak
S2000- this design, tested January 2026, produces 3mw peak, has been redesigned to fit into shipping containers and for weatherproofing/addressing points of failure to allow for deployments in cities as well as the original use case of remote mines and villages
This is cool. But a normal ground mounted turbine of the design we've been successfully deploying for decades can produce way more capacity per turbine. It's definitely not as exciting as new designs but "just build more of the same stuff we've already been doing" really is the way forward.
this is for remote mining and the like, would be particularly useful here in australia where deposits are absolute but fuck middle of nowhere
You can put a conventional turbine in a remote area too.
that’s what they currently do, though this would probably cheaper and moveable
China is doing that as well to be fair. They're planning to install something like 120GW of wind a year for the next four years. This thing isn't going to supply a national grid because it's less efficient than regular turbines, but might have uses in certain edge cases like remote factories or research stations or whatever.
What if you were say a remote camp or mine with no grid and limited road access..this would be awesome versus constantly burning diesel for energy.
I mean, your right, but you can’t put a regular windmill in the middle of a city. You can however have floating windmills flying above it.
I actually really like this idea on top of normal windmills.
It has a lot of potential for remote areas or forests where windmills are currently difficult to install.
It could go higher thereby removing the eyesore or noise.
Lots of cool stuff, just keep building.
If you can run a transmission line you can deploy conventional turbines
Transmission lines don’t really have the same needs as a wind turbine in terms of construction. I understand where you’re going with this, but the practicality of being able to bring in a floating turbine is certainly undeniable. I’ve worked in a lot of places where it would have been beneficial and no, a turbine would not have been practical.
Lmfao
This is a real game-changer. Calm weather will be significantly less frequent up there than at the usual altitude. Nice.
I hope they succeed, an American firm Aelteros (sp?) did something similar 15 years ago. They have since pivoted to high altitude relay towers for providing data coverage.
This is AWESOME! Limited bird death and optic eyesores on the landscape.
🤦Bird deaths caused by wind turbines
So what we should be doing is eliminating cats and installing more wind turbines.
This thing is far from invisible; I'm not sure how a wind turbine is an eyesore but a big blimp isn't. I personally love wind turbines during the day, but the aircraft warning lights are annoying at night. This would have the same lights.
What if the lights looked like lighted clouds flying or koi fish swimming in the air. Why just the blinkies when you have a stationary ish flying Flight of Dragons. It could just blink in the day I guess
Its flying 2KM away so I doubt you'll see much and wont be placed in flight lanes because its simply too risky so you probably wont even see these where humans tend to congregate. Wind turbines are increasingly operating offshore the so I suppose that people that dislike them wont have tpo worry about either of these things though like you said wind turbines look cool to many of us anyway.
On a side note I wonder how practical this is, the air currents are brutal up there, having something up there permanently with large moving parts sounds like an engineers nightmare. It adds another arrow to the wife energy quiver so im all for it but just seems significantly less practical than on ground turbines.
They would just haul them in for maintenance. Possibly easier than many offshore turbines.