Why non-crosswind type is not popular?

Yes. I think there is three main reasons: kite speed increasing the risk of collisions and their severity; low elevation angle (about 30 degrees) in order to mitigate cosine loss; space not used (swept) within large figure-eight or loop. The last one can be mitigated by using Low radius loop.

Conversely stationary kites can fly close to each other thanks to both no speed, high elevation angle (e.g. about 60 degrees for Kitewinder kiwee).

The video below shows how a multitude of stationary kites can fly with low spacing. People can walk between stationary kites, but not between crosswind kites. Crosswind (steerable) kites cannot fly in the same area: a specific area is used due to problems evoked above and that are well known by kite festival managers. I had to use it for my demo, even for a small crosswind flygen AWES.

I remember also that nobody could stay below the tether of a crosswind AWES in demo (some kW range) at AWEC 2013 Berlin.

So Power to space use ratio is a significant parameter. If crosswind kites are used, the whole swept area should be maximized or/and the site being away from any dwellings. It is not impossible but different architecture should be studied, comprising crosswind, crosswind-rotary (Daisy), stationary AWES (@Kitewinder Kiwee).

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