“the S2000 can easily be transported and stored in shipping containers,…its airborne design allows flexible deployment and retrieval, making it especially suitable for sparsely populated areas where large-scale infrastructure is difficult to build…………………Wang noted that the key to SAWES’ commercialization lies in whether the costs of manufacturing, deploying, retrieving, and transmitting electricity from the airborne system can be covered - or even exceeded - by the power it generates.”
It will be fascinating to see the economics of this. If these can be delivered in shipping containers it means they can be deployed almost anywhere. These would be the perfect way for places like Africa to expand their electricity generation capacity.
World’s first urban-use mW-class high-altitude wind turbine completes test flight
In that case you’ll face two problems I can think of off the top of my head: first, a 3MW generator with big moving parts is probably great at creating sparks which could ignite the balloon. How likely that would actually be would depend on the design, but it’s a significant problem if the expensive turbine falls out of the sky (carrying a flaming balloon and a very long high-voltage cable) on top of nearby buildings, people, or anything flammable.
Second, it’s actually quite difficult to confine hydrogen for very long. You’d either need a constant supply of it, or a significantly more expensive balloon which the hydrogen couldn’t leak out of
For the first one: Zeppelins had massive diesel engines spitting flames out of their exhaust, and as long as they’re grounded there won’t be static build up like the Hindenburg.
One advantage hydrogen has is that it can be produced on-site to offset leakage, provided it’s kept to a minimum. But if a giant zeppelin could cross the Atlantic I imagine we can limit leakage today to acceptable levels.
You probably shouldn’t fly this over populated areas anyway. I guess you could if you had too, and granted hydrogen would be worse in that case.
Aluminum is pretty impermeable to hydrogen, isn’t it? A foil layer would add weight, but then again hydrogen has slightly more lifting power, as well. Helium also leaks through some materials.