this post was submitted on 25 Sep 2025
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558
'Windmill': China tests world’s first megawatt-level airship to capture high winds (interestingengineering.com)
submitted 21 hours ago by kalkulat@lemmy.world to c/technology@lemmy.world
158 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

"High-altitude winds between 1,640 and 3,281 feet (500 and 10,000 meters) above the ground are stronger and steadier than surface winds. These winds are abundant, widely available, and carbon-free.

"The physics of wind power makes this resource extremely valuable. “When wind speed doubles, the energy it carries increases eightfold, triple the speed, and you have 27 times the energy,” explained Gong Zeqi "

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[–] Olgratin_Magmatoe@slrpnk.net 4 points 10 hours ago (1 children)

Very cool, and definitely worth switching too where it makes sense.

But there is no mention of cost, so it probably won't be cost competitive with regular wind for a while, which sucks.

But the silver lining is that this is among the first of this type of power generation, and it will only get better and more efficient as the tech is built upon.

[–] humanspiral@lemmy.ca 2 points 6 hours ago

They did mention 30% cost savings. (these claims are easy to exaggerate though) While already useful scale, the advantages would grow with higher scale and high volume automated production.