This is one of the silly things about AWE stated goals versus actual skillsets.
Just because people were out there having a good time kitesurfing, they thought they had somehow magically mastered wind-generated electricity. In 15 years of big talk, I noticed none of the big talkers even had a kite that could launch and land by itself, assuming kites would even play a role in AWE, of which they had no doubt. Will kites even play a role? No way to say, at this point.
And these days, we hear talk of autonomous launches and landings, but I still donât see anything in regular, daily operation, despite years of statements to the contrary. As for giving an opinion on a description of hoped-for operating parameters for something which doesnât exist, Iâm not sure what to say, but if it doesnât exist, it doesnât exist.
And as far as scoring matrices for AWE systems goes, depending on who is doing the scoring, everyone from Altaeros, to Makani, to the kite-reelers, would probably have scored high and received glowing recommendations by someone, at some point. Just read the old articles on them all.
Turns out they were all just more people erroneously thinking they had superseded regular wind turbines, just like all the vertical-axis wannabe inventors out there. At least, even though the vertical-axis machines used more material, cost more, and performed worse, you could point to vertical-axis turbines in regular operation, even if they only last about a year before self-destruction.