When the cable reaches its full extension, the angle of the kite is shifted so that the wind no longer pulls and the cable can be rolled in again, before the cycle repeats. A prototype kite designed by Dutch former astronaut Wubbo Ockels, now at the Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands, was able to generate 10 kilowatts of power - or enough electricity to supply 10 homes.

"This approach has the advantage that the heavy generator stays on the ground" said Pavel Trivailo, an aerospace engineer from the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, in Australia. He said he has recently applied for funding to develop Ockels' technology further, using radio-controlled gliders.

Li...

When the cable reaches its full extension, the angle of the kite is shifted so that the wind no longer pulls and the cable can be rolled in again, before the cycle repeats. A prototype kite designed by Dutch former astronaut Wubbo Ockels, now at the Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands, was able to generate 10 kilowatts of power - or enough electricity to supply 10 homes.

"This approach has the advantage that the heavy generator stays on the ground" said Pavel Trivailo, an aerospace engineer from the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, in Australia. He said he has recently applied for funding to develop Ockels' technology further, using radio-controlled gliders.

Like kites, gliders would only be useful on their way out into the wind – whilst winding back in, no electricity is generated. Trivailo imagines paired systems of kites, where one travels out as the other returns, likening the system to the paired action of a piston engine.