People dont just fly kites for fun.
Thats why we can get away with much smaller rotors.
Flying high
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The firm has eight employees.
This would require a lengthy tether, extending to 150m.
Such machines might fly at altitudes comparable to the height of the Empire State Building in New York.
Icewinds gadget is a sort of open, curved cylinder spinning within a metal frame.
Its roughly the size of a refrigerator, says Stephen Drake, chief executive.
Around a million telecoms towersaround the world are located in areas with poor or no electricity grid connections.
Thus, they currently rely on diesel generators for power.
Now the telecoms industry is searching for cleaner alternatives that could include turbines such as Icewinds.
We knew it was an instant fit, says Drake.
New technologies could even change how conventional, supersized three-bladed turbines are constructed.
They are also very heavy.
Traditional tower materials require special reinforcement for the largest turbines.
His firm has developed a way of making turbine towers out of a completely different material: wood.
Specifically, laminated veneer lumber.
Its kind of like large-scale plywood, says Lundman.
The company has 34 employees and has netted funding of SEK210 million (18.8 million) to date.
Wood-based modular approaches are primed to further the industrys ambitions, he suggests.
The companys largest suppliers are based in Finland but its manufacturing base is in Modvions native Sweden.
This year, the firm aims to erect one two-megawatt turbine, 105 metres tall at the nacelle.
Production of larger turbines with wooden towers is pencilled to commence late next year or early 2025.
