Wind energy has the potential to power the world 100 times over, yet only 4% of the world’s      electricity comes from wind. The Makani energy kite system integrates advances in aerospace engineering, materials science, and autonomous controls to create a lightweight design that is easy to   transport and install.Over the last ten years, Makani has been prototyping and testing energy kites that can generate electricity by efficiently harnessing energy from wind resources that aren’t accessible or cost-effective today.

The Makani energy kite:
           Makani is developing energy kites that use a wing tethered to a ground station to efficiently harness energy from the wind, generating electricity at utility-scale. As the kite flies autonomously in loops, rotors on the wing spin as the wind moves through them, generating electricity that is sent down the tether to the grid. 

Design:
         The kite’s flight path is controlled by onboard computers running custom flight controller software. Data from GPS and other sensors help the software steer the kite.

Model:M600
Year Designed:2014
Wingspan:26 m
Rated Power:600 kW

Lets see how it works:
  1. The kite rests on a ground station for launch.
  2. The kite climbs to desired altitude and positions itself down wind.The rotors initially consume a small amount of energy to produce trust.
 3. Kite then transition into cross wind flight.Aerodynamic lift allows the wing to fly autonumously in loops optimized for maximum power generation by flight controller.
4. Wind propels the kite around the loop.The rotor spin,driving on board generators to produce electricity transferred back to the ground via the tether.

Makani was founded in 2006 by Saul griffith,Donmontague and Corwin hardham.
  • On may 23rd 2013 Makani power was aquired by Google and changed it into Google X.
  • In february 2019 Makani was separated from Google X and made into Subsidiary of alphabet .
  • As per the resources from feb 2020 Makani is no longer a Alphabet company.