One of the world’s first commercial-scale, kite-driven power stations is set to be created near Stranraer in Scotland in what could be a major step towards finding the “magic solution” to humanity’s energy problems. While kites have until now largely been flights of fancy that have entranced generations of children, Renaissance genius Leonardo da Vinci and poets like Robert Louis Stevenson and Joyce Carol Oates, their practical uses have seemed limited. But those behind the new power station believe their system could cut the price of offshore wind energy in half. It is so cheap, they say, that there will be no need for any Government subsidy – something currently required to build any new kind of power generation, renewable or fossil fuel. Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, who is investing billions in green technology, has said he believes there is a 10 per cent chance that kite power is the “magic solution” to the world’s energy problems. Other companies are also investigating the potential of “kytoons” – kite/balloon hybrids – or even flying turbines that can capture the energy of the jet stream at altitudes of 20,000ft, where the wind is constant. The firm behind the Stranraer project, Kite Power Systems has already demonstrated a small kite-driven power station in Essex.
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