Claim: Kites in a MAWES need to be able to: CLAMP onto the tether and LATCH onto the previous kite + a discussion on how to do this + a first mention of stackable kites + a concept for automatic launch of a soft kite train

[Windy_Skies]

My need in need to be able to is doing some work. Before I wrote this about that:

@Windy_Skies

I should restrict the claim: I claim a (M)AWES interesting to me needs these things. An AWES is interesting to me when it has the potential to outcompete regular wind. It would have these features:

• A clear path to >>> 1 MW generation capability – the assumption here is that one 10MW system is going to be cheaper, all things considered, than one hundred 100kW systems.
• A clear path to do this cost-competitively
• Working surfaces at or above 300 meter height so you are not restricted to offshore and overly windy locations.

For the Daisy for example, at smaller scales hand launch makes sense, for bigger scales the back bot could make sense, but at the largest scales I claim clamps and latches make most sense.

For the Pyramid, without this, you are restricted to a single rung which would limit you.

Interesting to me you could also read as able to replace or be cost-competitive to cheaper by an order of magnitude compared to conventional onshore wind, able to survive storms, have durable parts, and so on. It needs to be economical and practical, not just physically possible to construct and work that one time after years of development. Trains, not (human-powered) helicopters.

Can you place it somewhere in the Leeds or Vancouver region, as that is where the energy needs are, is it cheaper than other energy sources, and can you leave it unattended?

Both of your examples don’t seem to qualify, and with that I think aren’t good counterexamples for my narrower interest. The Daisy efforts would be a good counter example for the original claim, your network dome wouldn’t be as of now, as we don’t know if it can exist. For my narrower interest, your simple Daisy efforts would have a too low rotor height, be too small scale to be economical for grid energy, and so on. I don’t really understand your other description, if it looks kind of like a multi-rotor, soft kite, Daisy but now networked together, the soft kites would make it not efficient enough per land area to compete with conventional wind I think, among other problems.

…This is partly me thinking out loud about commercial viability and not really a reply anymore to your comment.