The no market Hypothesis

https://www.annualreviews.org/doi/abs/10.1146/annurev-control-042820-124658

Figure 15 (average power 92 kW, with peaks of 300-400 kW, 12 m/s wind speed).

A power of about 100 kW was therefore measured. That said there may be several no market hypotheses. In first you must build a fence of several kilometers to prevent potential walkers from entering the area of ​​operation. I remember in AWECBerlin 2013: order so that nobody under the tether of an only few kW range crosswind yo-yo AWES. Farmers will have to follow a schedule to harvest.

Of course, all this applies if the machine is working properly, which you rightly doubt. Takeoff, landing? Quality of the electricity produced? Reliability? Lifespan of a flexible kite under irregular and enormous stresses? Cost of ground facilities, including a large generator because of the drive speed of only 1/3 of the wind speed, not including irregular power smoothing for AWES with a recovery phase every cycle?

When we know that the same power is obtained with a conventional wind turbine comprising a rotor of only about 15 m in diameter…

But other designs could perhaps unblock all that, provided that the operation is not based only on computerized management (even if it is essential), that we find the objectives of the beginning, to harness the high altitude winds, that we go up the angle of elevation (as for the marketed Kiwee with its 60 degrees elevation angle, not 30 degrees as for the current crosswind kite prototypes) even if it is expensive, that we take into account of the Power to space use ratio.