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Alphabet cuts cord on power-generating kite business
SAN FRANCISCO, Feb 19, 2020 (BSS/AFP) – Google-parent Alphabet is shutting
down a unit devoted to using high-tech kites to tap into wind energy for
electricity, the chief of the team said on Tuesday.
Makani became a “moonshot” project in a special Alphabet X lab when the
startup was acquired seven years ago.
The unit was turned into an independent business last year to see if it
could fly on its own.
“Creating an entirely new kind of wind energy technology means facing
business challenges as well as engineering challenges,” Makani chief
executive Fort Felker said in a post at Medium.
“Despite strong technical progress, the road to commercialization is longer
and riskier than hoped, so from today Makani’s time at Alphabet is coming to
an end.”
After becoming an independent business, Makani collaborated with gas giant
Shell Oil to demonstrate successful flights of energy-generating kites
tethered to a floating platform off the coast of Norway, Felker said.
Propellers attached to the kites get them aloft and then act at turbines
for generating electricity, which is sent back down the tether, according to
the Makani website.
Shell is exploring ways to continue developing Makani technology, Felker
noted.
“This doesn’t mean the end of the road for the technology Makani developed,
but it does mean that Makani will no longer be an Alphabet company,” he said.
The Northern California company was founded by a group of kite-surfers
“curious about the potential for kites to unlock wind energy in more places,”
Felker added.
BSS/AFP/GMR/1110 hrs