I experimented a 2 line power kite Vibe of 0.5 m² (on the photo), and also a 2 line power kite Ozone 0.8 m², compared to a parachute kite of about 0.5 m² (on the photo). Both power kites led to a similar result: 3x the power of the parachute kite equal surface area, no more. This is due, as I indicated previously, to the “stop and go” in crosswind flying where a lot of wind energy is spent accelerating and slowing down the kite in a flight window where the power is not the same everywhere.
The power kite can be set to different AoA depending on the wind speed. The higher the AoA, the more lift it will produce in static flight with a lower elevation angle, but it will also be slower.
A paraglider generally flies with a lower AoA than a power kite, and with a higher lift-to-drag ratio (no tether drag, no flight window).
See also the curves on Figure 15 and Mutiny I mentioned on my previous comment: not so good in regard to the wind speed at the height of the kite.
I used a weighing fish steelyard (on the photo).
It can give a maximum value, but I preferred to follow the variation (huge, 4x or 5x in maximum value, almost nothing in minimum value, and probably less than 3x on average: we are far from 15x or 27.777x) of force during the crosswind flight, whereas there was no force variation (as expected) with the flight with the parachute kite.
I was wondering why we see so many AWES and not conventional wind turbines…
More seriously, AWES use significantly more space and land than conventional wind turbines. For conventional turbines, land use is limited to the area occupied by the tower. Concerning AWES, the huge space should be maximized to make them effective, allowing easy secondary uses (agriculture, or offshore fishing) just like conventional wind turbines.
For AWES, a dome-shaped or cylindrical area with a radius at least equal to the tether length must be considered, taking into account all wind directions.
For a crosswind AWES, the airspace occupied by the figure-eight pattern is much larger than the area of wind actually captured, resulting in areas that are either unusable or difficult to use by other crosswind AWES within the same wind farm. In contrast, a parachute-based AWES utilizes the entire captured area, making it possible to have other parachute-based AWES operating in close proximity within the same wind farm.
typically, a paraglider can last anywhere between 200 to 300 hours of airtime
So, two weeks in continuous use.
our professional series fabric weighs in at 1.3 oz and can endure approximately 5000 flights or more
That’s already at least 10x better (although not sufficient for a daily use). And between each flight, the parasail is folded up.
See also A (train of) parasail(s) as AWES ? - Engineering / System Design - AWESystems Forum