This would be a good starting point to compare a network of lifter kites (to begin with) with a set composed of the same but individually tethered kites.
We need to understand how many kites must be tethered to the ground to keep the network well-formed at altitude.
One might think that, proportionally, the number of tethered peripheral kites relative to the total number of kites would decrease as the total number of kites increases.
Then, try to determine from which altitude the kite network could become more advantageous (less total rope length).
Try to identify possible problems: reliability and stability with different winds in the network leading to interferences leading to possible crash, maneuverability…
My experiments were not always successful.
It is interesting to note that in spite of descriptions, we never see kite networks in the kite festivals, except traditional networks like arches and trains.
One can guess that kite networks other than trains and arches are too difficult to implement and maneuver, otherwise, given how long kites have existed, we would have seen some by now.
And if we are now talking about wind energy, we could reach a marginality of a marginality, so a probable dead end.