![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
![]() | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
![]() | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
![]() |
![]() |
You are in: Sci/Tech | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
![]() |
Thursday, 29 March, 2001, 09:17 GMT 10:17 UK
Professor plans flying power station
![]() The real thing would be 10 times as big
It looks a bit like a cross between a balsa-wood helicopter and a kite, but Professor Bryan Roberts hopes this odd-looking craft will help meet future energy needs.
The plan is to send clusters of these vehicles 4.5 kilometres (14,700 feet) up into the jet stream to create a sort of flying power station. Professor Roberts, from the University of Western Sydney, has spent 20 years proving the concept and is now ready to put it into practice. He wants to build the first station near Woomera in South Australia The professor believes gyromills will prove to be a cheaper and more flexible method of electricity generation than traditional wind turbines.
Each of the Professor's gyromills would be tethered to the ground. "The cable connecting it to the ground can draw energy from the ground and use that energy to power the machine as a helicopter," Dr Roberts told the BBC TV science programme Tomorrow's World. "Then, when it gets to altitude, the gyromill's motor can be switched to a generator and energy is pushed back down the cable to the ground."
"There would be a cluster of these things in the sky - like a range of kites at an altitude of approximately four kilometres. The power station would cover an area about 20 kilometres (12 miles) in diameter. "To bring them down, you'd simply winch them in - or you could fly them down. In the best winds in Australia, the gyromills can stay up six days out of seven." But Professor Roberts will have to convince the aviation authorities that his project is a safe one. Aircraft would have to be kept well clear of the gyromills and their trailing cables.
![]() The power station would cover an area 20 km in diameter
|
![]() |
See also:
![]() Internet links:
![]() The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites Top Sci/Tech stories now:
![]() ![]() Links to more Sci/Tech stories are at the foot of the page.
![]() |
![]() |
Links to more Sci/Tech stories
|
![]() |
![]() |
^^ Back to top News Front Page | World | UK | UK Politics | Business | Sci/Tech | Health | Education | Entertainment | Talking Point | In Depth | AudioVideo ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- To BBC Sport>> | To BBC Weather>> ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- © MMIII | News Sources | Privacy |